MFA No. 167 of 2008 · Kerala High Court

M.F.A.No.167/2008 2compensation payable is prescribed under the Rules. Theappellants lost all their support from the date of accident itself. Therefore, we are of the opinion that interest ought to have beengranted at least from the date of application. 2. It is true that there is no specific provision for grantinginterest from the date of application, but, compensation is paid tooffset the loss suffered by the claimants due to the untowardincident. The Railway ought to have paid the amount at the time ofaccident itself and, in any event, at the time when it received thecopy of the application. The appellants are not responsible for thedelay and claimants have to be compensated. In this connection, we refer to the decision of this Court in Union of India v. Thankaraj(2000 ACJ 651) and also the following decisions of the Hon'bleSupreme Court in Union of India v. Laxmi Pati (1995 ACJ 791);Avalakki v. Union of India (2001 ACJ 1258); Union of India v. OinamKeirungba Meetel (2008 ACJ 783 - Gauhati); Prasant KumarChoudhury v. Union of India (2008 ACJ 685); Union of India andothers v. Smt. Shamim and others (AIR 2008 Rajasthan 99) and N.Parameswaran Pillai and another v. Union of India and another((2002) 4 SCC 306). M.F.A.No.167/2008 33. In the above circumstances, we are of the opinionthat the Tribunal ought to have awarded interest from the date ofapplication on the facts of this case and exercised judicial discretionin granting interest as the claimants were not responsible for thedelay. Hence, we award simple interest at the rate of 7.5% perannum from the date of application till the date of payment of awardamount considering the bank rate of interest prevailing at the timeof passing the award. The award is modified accordingly. Appeal is allowed. J.B.Koshy Judge K.P.Balachandran Judge vaa M.F.A.No.167/2008 4 J.B. KOSHY ANDK.P.BALACHANDRAN,JJ.-------------------------------------M.F.A.No. 167/2008 ------------------------------------- Judgment Date:23rd October,2008