London court’s order not on merits; HC rules in favour of KSRTC

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has ruled that an execution petition initiated by a British couple based on a judgement of a London court is not executable as it was not passed on merits. The couple had met with an accident while on a visit to India in 2002.

They sued the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation for compensation in a British court, which ruled in their favour. The couple then tried to execute the British court order in India but Justice HP Sandesh in his judgement on July 14 nullified it.

The HC held that the foreign court had not followed the principles of natural justice. KSRTC had replied to a notice but it was not taken into consideration by the foreign court.

“Taking into note of the material on record it discloses that the Court has not followed the principles of natural justice while recording the reasons and very importantly, basing on the application of the appellant itself, conclusively decided the issue with regard to jurisdiction and passed the order coupled with costs hence, the order passed by the foreign Court is not conclusive and not on merits and hence, the same cannot be executable,” the HC said.

Nigel Roderick Lloyd Harradine and Carol Ann Harradine are from Old Coulsdon village, Surrey, England. They were in India on March 18, 2002 and travelling in a car from Mysuru to Gundlupet.

The car they had engaged from Ms Somak Travels Limited and driven by one, Ravi met with an accident with a KSRTC bus. The couple filed a claim in respect of the alleged accident before the Exeter County Court, United Kingdom which allowed their petition and directed KSRTC to pay compensation. Then they filed an execution petition based on the judgement of the UK court before the XXV Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru.

KSRTC’s application challenging the UK court’s judgement was rejected by the Civil Court forcing the KSRTC to file the revision petition in the High Court. The HC secured the Trial Court records from the lower court before passing its judgement.

It noted that “It discloses that no certified copy of the judgement and decree of the Foreign Court is placed before the Trial Court."