1 - Municipal Corporation Through Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Saket Bhawan, Korba, Tahsil And District v. 1
Case Details
1 2025:CGHC:39434 NAFR AYUSHI SINGH Digitally signed by AYUSHI SINGH Date: 2025.08.11 11:00:31 +0530 HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MAC No. 574 of 2020 1 - Municipal Corporation Through Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Saket Bhawan, Korba, Tahsil And District Korba, Chhattisgarh. ... Appellant versus 1 - Smt. Yashoda Devi Patel W/o Late Dharam Lal Patel Aged About 40 Years 2 - Mahendra Kumar Patel S/o Late Shri Dharam Lal Patel Aged About 20 Years
Legal Reasoning
3 - Manish Kumar Patel S/o Late Shri Dharam Lal Patel Aged About 18 Years 4 - Bhagwat Ram Patel S/o Shree Jagat Ram Patel Aged About 77 Years 5 - Smt. Naan Bai Patel W/o Shree Bhagwat Ram Patel Aged About 68 Years All R/o Gram Pandripani, Police Station Balco Nagar, Tahsil And District Korba, Chhattisgarh. ... Respondents For Appellant For Respondents : : Mr. Anuroop Panda, Advocate Mr. Shubham Dev Mallick, Advocate 2 (Hon’ble Shri Justice Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi) Judgment on Board 07/08/2025 1. Heard. 2. This appeal has been preferred against order dated 27.1.2020 passed by the Commissioner, Employee’s Compensation-cum- Labour Court, Korba (henceforth “Labour Court”) in case No.04/ECA/2019/Misc. whereby the Labour Court has directed the appellant/ employer to grant interest @ 12% per annum on principal amount i.e., Rs.7,25,480/- from 25.4.2014 to 25.1.2020 i.e., Rs.5,00,581/- to the respondent/ claimant. 3. Facts of the case, in brief, are that claimants/respondents herein moved an application under Section 22 of the Employee’s Compensation Act, 1923 (for brevity “Act of 1923”) claiming compensation to be granted on account of death of Dharam Lal Patel. The said application was decided by the Commissioner, Employee’s Compensation Act-cum-Labour Court, Korba (C.G.) (for short ‘Labour Court’) vide order dated 23.6.2017 (Annexure A/2) in case No. 17/E.C. Act/ 2014/Fatal, awarding an amount of Rs.7,25,480/- to the claimants/ respondents with a direction to the appellant/ employer to deposit the said amount before the Labour Court within a period of 30 days from the date of passing of that order and if, the said amount is not deposited within 30 days from the date of order, the interest @ 12 % per annum will be levied upon the amount of compensation from the date of filing of application till the date of final payment. 3 4. Against the said order dated 23.6.2017 of the Labour Court, the appellant herein filed MAC No.1291/2017 before the High Court, challenging the legality, validity and correctness of that order, which was rejected vide order dated 18.09.2017 being lack of merit. However, meanwhile the appellant herein deposited the compensation amount before the Labour Court on 23.8.2017. Further, on account of delay in payment of compensation amount, the claimants/respondents herein moved an application before the Labour Court, claiming interest on compensation from 25.04.2014 (the date of filing compensation application) to 24.08.2017 (the date of payment of compensation) i.e. 39 months in which the Labour Court, awarded the interest amount of Rs.2,82,932/- vide its order dated 08.01.2019 (Annexure A6). 5. Subsequently, claimants/ respondents again filed an execution application on 02.2.2019, claiming total interest amount of Rs.3,39,487/-. The Labour Court decided the said execution application vide impugned order dated 27.1.2020, directing appellant/ employer to pay interest @ 12 % per annum from 25.4.2014 to 25.1.2020 on total compensation of Rs. 7,25,480/- awarded by the Labour Court vide its order dated 23.6.2017, by quantifying the amount of Rs.5,00,581/-, against which the instant MAC has been filed. 6. This appeal has been admitted for hearing on 01.9.2023 on the following substantial questions of law:- “(i) Whether the learned Labour Court justified in calculating the interest from 25.04.2014 to 25.01.2020 on the total amount of Rs.7,25,480/- though the compensation amount was already paid on 23.08.2017? 4 (ii) Whether the calculation of interest of Rs.5,00,581/- is proper once vide order dated 08.01.2019 the interest part for delay of one month has been quantified at Rs.2,82,932/-? “ 7. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that in compliance of order dated 23.6.2017 (Annexure A2) passed by the Commissioner, Employee’s Compensation-cum-Labour Court, Korba, in case No.17/E.C.Act/2014/Fatal, appellant/ employer deposited principal amount of Rs. 7,25,480/- on 23.8.2017, but, interest part was not deposited, therefore, respondent/ claimant filed execution application before the Labour Court on 02.2.2019. He further submits that in that execution application vide impugned order dated 27.1.2020, Labour Court has directed the appellant/ employer to pay amount of interest at 12 % per annum from 25.4.2014 to 25.1.2020 i.e., Rs. 5,00,581/-. He next submits that in aforesaid calculation, the Labour Court has calculated the interest @ 12 % per annum on principal amount of total period i.e., till 25.1.2020 whereas after depositing the principal amount of compensation i.e., Rs.7,25,480/- on 23.8.2017, principal amount cannot be taken into consideration for calculating interest at 12 % per annum rather only amount of interest which was not paid as per order of impugned award i.e., from 25.4.2014 to 23.8.2017 ought to have been taken as outstanding amount and thereafter, from 24.8.2017, only interest part i.e., Rs.2.82,932/- which was not paid by the appellant/ employer ought to have been taken for calculation of interest. Learned counsel further submits that on 25.2.2020, appellant has deposited amount of Rs.5,00,581/- as per the order of Labour Court, in compliance of Proviso of Section 30 of the Employee’s Compensation 5 Act, 1923, but, Labour Court has assessed the amount of interest on higher side. Whereas total amount of interest from 25.4.2014 (date of application) to 23.8.2017 (date of deposition of principal amount of compensation) would be Rs.2,82,932/- and thereafter, interest of 12% per annum would be payable on the amount of Rs.2,82,932/- from 24.8.2017 till 25.2.2020 (date on which appellant has deposited Rs. 5,00,581/-) as per the impugned order of Labour Court. Hence, total amount of interest payable to the claimants right from date of application i.e., 25.4.2014 to 25.4.2020 would be Rs. 3,64,982/-. 8. Learned counsel for respondent/ claimant would support the impugned order dated 27.1.2020 (Annexure A1) passed by the Labour Court. 9. I have considered the facts of the case and taken into consideration submission putforth by both the parties and perused the record with utmost circumspection. 10.Operative part of award dated 23.6.2017 (Annexure A2) passed by the Labour Court was as under :- “okn iz’u dzekad 07%& izdj.k dh ifjfLFkfr;ksa ,oa vfHkys[k esa vk;h lk{; ds vk/kkj ij izkFkhZx.k dk izdj.k vkaf’kd :i ls Lohdkj fd;k tkdj] vukosnd dks vknsf’kr fd;k tkrk gS fd os e`rd /kjeyky iVsy dh e`R;q {kfriwfrZ jkf’k 7]25]480 ¼lkr yk[k iPphl gtkj pkj lkS vLlh :i;s½ vkosfndkx.k dks Hkqxrku gsrq vkns’k fnukad ls 30 fnol ds Hkhrj bl U;k;ky; esa tek djsaA 30 fnol ds Ik’pkr Hkqxrku fd;s tkus ij {kfriwfrZ jkf’k ij 12 izfr’kr okf"kZd dh nj ls lk/kkj.k O;kt] izkFkZuk i= izLrqr fnukad ls laiw.kZ vnk;xh rd vnk djsaA“ 6 11.Perusal of award dated 23.6.2017, shows that interest @ 12 % per annum was payable from the date of application, if, amount of award is not paid within 30 days from the date of passing of order. 12.In the instant case, admittedly, amount of award was not paid within 30 days from the date of passing of order, therefore, interest is payable from the date of application filed by the claimant i.e., 25.4.2014. 13. Principal amount of award Rs.7,25,480/- was deposited by the appellant/ employer on 23.8.2017, therefore, interest @ 12 % per annum is payable on aforesaid amount only from 25.4.2014 to 23.8.2017. Since interest amount which is Rs.2,82,932/- for aforesaid period, was not paid by the appellant/ employer on 23.8.2017, on 24.8.2017 only Rs.2,82,932/- was the outstanding amount against the appellant/ employer to be paid by him to the claimants/ respondents, which was directed to be paid by the Labour Court vide order dated 08.1.2019 (Annexure A6), thereafter, further interest @ 12 % per annum was payable by the appellant/ employer on aforesaid amount of Rs.2,82,932/-. Thus, total amount payable to the claimants/ respondents is found to be Rs. 3,64,982/- for the period from 25.4.2014 to 25.2.2020 (date on which appellant/ employer deposited Rs.5,00,581/-). 14. In view of above discussion, impugned order dated 27.1.2020 (Annexure A1) passed by the Labour Court, Korba is modified to the extent indicated herein above and claimants/ respondents are entitled to be held outstanding amount of interest total Rs. 3,64,982/- from appellant/ employer. Since appellant/ employer has already deposited Rs.500581/-, it is directed that after payment of Rs. 3,64,982/- to the 7 claimants/ respondents from aforesaid amount, appellant/ employer is entitled to get back remaining amount i.e., Rs.1,35,599/-. 15.
Decision
In the result, the appeal stands disposed of and the order impugned dated 27.1.2020 stands modified to the extent indicated above. 16. In view of above, pending IA(s), if any, stands disposed of. No order as to cost(s). SD/- (Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi) JUDGE Ayushi