Kamlesh and Others vs Union of India (UOI)

Rakesh Kumar Jain, J.—This appeal is directed against the order dated 15.5.2008 passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh, (for short, ''the Tribunal''), whereby the claim application has been allowed and amount of Rs. 4,00,000/- (Rs. Four lakh) has been awarded to the appellants to be shared by all the appellants to the tune of Rs. 1,00,000/- (One lac) each, out of which it has been ordered that Rs. 50,000/- payable to appellant No. 1 (Kamlesh) shall be kept in a fixed deposit in her favour in a Nationalized Bank for a period of three years with liberty to her to withdraw quarterly interest on such FDR and the remaining amount of Rs. 50,000/- shall be paid to her immediately and the amount awarded to the other claimants/appellant Nos. 2 to 4 who are minor, shall also be kept in fixed deposits in their favour till they attain the ages of majority. It has been further ordered that the respondent shall make the aforesaid payment within 60 days, failing which the appellants shall be entitled to recover the compensation amount with interest @ 9% from the date of the order till the date of realization.

The only argument raised by the learned Counsel for the appellants is in respect of the deposit order of the Tribunal whereby the amount of Rs. 50,000/- has been ordered to be deposited in the FDR in the name of appellant No. 1-Kamlesh, who is aged 48 years and is a major and also for not awarding interest from the date of filing of the claim petition.

Learned Counsel for the appellants has relied upon a decision of this Court in the case of FAO No. 5037 of 2008 (Seema Rani and Ors. v. Union of India through General Manager, Northern Railways, New Delhi.

After hearing the learned Counsel for the parties, I am of the view that the present appeal deserves to be allowed after the decision of the Apex Court in the case of H.S. Ahammed Hussain v. Irfan Ahammed (2002) 132 P.L.R. 297 (S.C.) and Asraf Vs. Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal and Others, .

The amount of compensation payable to the claimant who is adult and major cannot be ordered to be deposited in the FDR and has to be paid in cash. Similarly, in view of the decision of the Apex Court in the cases of N. Parameswaran Pillai and Another Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Another, and Smt. Usha Rani and Others Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Another, , the amount of interest has to be paid from the date of filing of the claim petition and not from the date of the order.

In view of the above discussion, the present appeal is, thus, allowed. The order of the Tribunal is modified and it is directed that the entire amount of compensation awarded to appellant No. 1-Kamlesh shall be paid to her in cash forthwith along-with interest @ 9% from the date of filing of the claim petition.