D.Falshaw, J.

1. These are four appeals Nos. 69-D, 70-D, 71-D and 85-D of 1953 filed by the Delhi Municipal Committee against decrees of various amounts for damages passed in favour of the plaintiff respondents.

2. The cases arise out of an incident which happened in the morning of 7-2-1951 when the top portion of the famous Clock Tower which is stood in one of the main business centres of Delhi, Chandni Chowk, suddenly collapsed with the result that a number of persons were killed or injured by the falling debris. The plaintiffs in these suits are relatives of four of the persons who were killed. In appeal No. 69-D/53, the plaintiffs were the widow, a minor son and two minor daughters of Ram Parkash.

In appeal No. 70-D/53 the plaintiff Jagdish Raj is a widower whose wife was killed. In appeal No. 71-D/53 the person killed was the wife of Tek Chand plaintiff and mother of Munshi Lal, Kala Ram, Bhandari Lal and Rani Devi minor plaintiffs. In appeal No. 85-D/53 the plaintiff is a minor son of Gopi Chand who was killed. The first three cases were dealt with by a single judgment and were consolidated to the extent that while the plaintiffs led separate evidence, mainly on the q