The Delhi high court on Monday asked a bus owner to pay Rs 1 lakh to a man who was seriously injured after falling from a Blueline bus in the city ten years ago.

Observing that "the owner of the bus is guilty of contributory negligence", Justice Pradeep Nandrajog said that though the driver and conductor were responsible for causing rash and negligent act, the owner is liable to pay the compensation to the victim.

Directing Surender Kumar, the bus owner, to pay Rs 1 lakh with six percent rate of interest to Vijay Tiwari, the victim, the court said "it is the duty of the driver and the conductor of the bus to ensure that the passengers stand inside the bus and not on the foot board at the same time the duty of the owner was to install a lever operate devise to prevent any mishap."

The Court accepted the medical board report stating that the victim had been severely disabled due to the accident.

The order came on a petition filed by Tiwari challenging the trial court order dismissing his claim of Rs 5 lakh on account of injuries he had received when he had fallen from a bus in October 1996.