Amol Rattan Singh, J.

This is an appeal by the driver-cum-owner of a tractor-trolley that was involved in a motor vehicle accident, resulting in injuries to respondent no.1 herein, due to which he lost his eyesight. There being no insurer of the said vehicle, the compensation of Rs.1,50,000/- awarded by the Tribunal, was held to be recoverable from the present appellant, leading to the filing of this appeal.

2. The facts, as are taken from the impugned Award dated 26.04.1994, are that as per the claim petition filed by the respondents herein, at about 7:30 pm on 24.01.1992, respondent no.1, Phool Singh, was going on his motorcycle, bearing registration no. HRX 6211, from Shahzadpur to Kala Amb, statedly at a very slow speed, with all due care and caution, on the correct side of the road. When he reached near Banondi and Bara Gaon, the aforesaid tractor-trolley bearing registration no. HRA 6595, driven by the present appellant, came from the opposite side, allegedly driven in a rash and negligent manner, without caring for traffic rules. It was contended that the appellant came to the wrong side of the road and hit his tractor trolley against the motorcycle of respondent no.1, due to which he suffered a severe head injury alongwith other multiple injuries.

He was taken to the Civil Hospital at Naraingarh but was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he remained admitted for about one and half months and thereafter remained under treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and at the time of the filing of the claim petition, was still under treatment.

3. It was claimed that he had spent Rs.75,000/- on his treatment and was operated upon twice in the PGI, Chandigarh and ultimately, the doctors had declared that his eye sight was lost forever.

He was stated to be 33 years of age, earning Rs.5000/- per month as a timber merchant, but due to the accident, he had no source of income left.

Consequently, the claim petition was filed by the injured, as well as his wife and four minor children, seeking a compensation of Rs.10,00,000/- from the appellant.

4. Before the Tribunal, other than the appellant, initially one Mehar Chand and his brothers, Dila Ram and Prem Chand, were also impleaded as respondents, again as owners of the tractor trolley involved in the accident. However, on a statement of the counsel for the claimants, the names of the said respondents were deleted, vide an order dated 02.08.1993.

5. The present appellant being the only respondent remaining before the Tribunal, he filed his written statement denying all the allegations in the claim petition, further stating that actually his trolley had got punctured near village Baragarh after it was loaded with manure, and consequently, it had been parked on the “Kacha” portion of the road, and that he had placed stones and logs of wood towards the road side, as well as at the front and back of the trolley, which was stationary. He had also lit a fire, as an indicator of the parked vehicle.

It was further contended that the appellant was very heavily drunk when he came from the side of Shazadpur and had hit the trolley from behind, with his motorcycle.

Out of sympathy and on humanitarian grounds, the appellant is stated to have taken the injured to the hospital and thereafter to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he himself spent a lot of money on his treatment.

He even bore all the expenses thereafter, as per the stand in the written statement.

It was further stated that the first claimant, his wife and father, even swore affidavits to the effect that there was no fault on the part of the present appellant in causing the accident and that the expenses for the treatment of the injured were also borne by the appellant.

A similar statement is stated to have been made before the police also by the present respondent no.1 (hereinafter to be referred to as the 1st claimant), also admitting that he was in a drunk condition, with no fault on the part of the present appe