Judgment · High Court

It appears from the order dated 29th August, 2001 that t he appeal has been admitted for hearing without formulating the substantial ques tion of law, though required under Section 30 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923 (now Employees Compensation Act) (in short, (cid:28)the Act (cid:29)). Hence the learned counsel for the parties are heard on the question of involvement of substantial question of law. Upon hearing the learned counsel appearing for the parti es and upon perusal of the impugned award, the appeal shall be heard on the foll owing substantial question of law:- (cid:28)Whether the learned Commissioner of Workmen’s Compensation was justified in awa rding the interest @ 12% per annum from the date of the accident till 8th Novemb er, 2000 under Section 4A(3)(a) of the Act? (cid:29) As agreed to by the learned counsel appearing for the pa rties, the appeal is taken up for disposal today itself. It has been contended by Mr. Baishya, learned counsel fo r the appellant that the interest payable under Section 4A(3)(a), which is penal in nature, is to be awarded with effect from the date of expiring 30 days from the date of the award. In the instant case, the learned Commissioner of Workmen ’s Compensation has awarded the interest from the date of accident and not even from the date of filing the application, which according to the learned counsel, is contrary to law. The learned counsel, however, has submitted that the entir e amount of compensation, as awarded including the interest, has already been de posited, which has also been withdrawn by the claimant. The learned counsel, th erefore, submits that the matter may be remitted to the learned Commissioner, Wo rkmen’s Compensation, Nagaon for fresh determination about the interest payable. The learned counsel appearing for the respondent No.1/cl aimant has, on the other hand, submitted that though the Commissioner may not be empowered to award interest under Section 4A(3)(a) of the Act, from the date of filing the petition, it is not powerless to award interest at the reasonable ra te as held by the Apex Court in Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. -Vs- Mohd. Nasi r & Anr. reported in (2009) 6 SCC 280. It appears that on the basis of the claim application fi led by the present respondent for the death of the concerned workman arising out of and in course of his employment award for Rs.1,84,170/- was passed by the le arned Commissioner, Workmen’s Compensation, Nagaon on 14th November, 2000 in NWC Case No.27/1999. The learned Commissioner has also awarded interest @ 12% per annum under Section 4A(3)(a) of the Act from the date of accident, i.e. from 9th December, 1998 to 8th November, 2000, for a period of 23 months as Rs.42,359/-. The learned Tribunal, therefore, has directed the Insurance Company to deposit the amount totaling Rs.2,26,529/- within a period of 30 days. As noticed above, the said amount has already been depos ited and withdrawn by the claimant. Section 4A(3)(a) empowers the Commissioner to award interest where any employer is in default in paying the compensation du e under the Act within one month from the date it fell due. The interest payabl e under the said provision is penal in nature. Such interest is payable, in the absence of any evidence on record about the due date, from the date expiring 30 days from the date of adjudication, i.e. the date of the award. The Apex Court in Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. (supra), however, has held that it would not take away the Court’s jurisdiction to award interest from the date of filing th e claim application at reasonable rate. In view of the aforesaid position, the learned Tribunal ought not to have award the interest under Section 4A(3)(a) from the date of the accident, however, since the Court is not powerless to award the reasonable int erest from the date of filing the application, having regard the facts and circu mstances of this case, I am of the view that the claimant is entitled to interes t @ 7‰% from the date of filing the claim application till the date of realizati on. Since the awarded amount has already been deposited and the difference of interest would not be much, I am not inclined to issue any dir ection to the learned Commissioner to work out the compensation and also to dire ct the claimant to refund the remaining amount, since the said amount must have already been spent by the claimant, who is admittedly very poor.