Full Text
HIGH COURT OF DELHI
Order reserved on : 31 October 2023
Order pronounced on : 06 November 2023
DHARMVIR ..... Appellant
Through: Mr. Rajan Sood, Ms. Ashima Sood and Ms. Megha Sood, Advs.
Through: Ms. Anushkaa Arora, Senior Panel counsel for UOI along with Ms. Simran Chadha and
Ms. Sonia, Advs.
DHARMESH SHARMA, J.
ORDER
1. This order shall decide an application under Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908[1] moved on behalf of the appellant for modification of the impugned order dated 19.05.2023 passed by this Court in FAO 28/2016.
2. Shorn of unnecessary details, the appellant is the father of deceased Anuj Kumar, who while travelling from Ghaziabad to Delhi on 01.11.2012 fell from a running train sustaining grievous injuries 1 CPC and ultimately succumbed to the same on 08.11.2012. Being the legal heir of the deceased, the applicant herein filed a claim petition under Section 16 of the Railway Claim Tribunal Act, 1987[2] against the respondent - Indian Railways (Union of India), which was dismissed by the learned Railways Claim Tribunal, Principal Bench, Delhi[3] vide judgment dated 31.08.2015.
3. Aggrieved thereof, an appeal was preferred by the appellant under Section 23 of the RCT Act before this Court bearing FAO 28/2016, which was eventually allowed by the learned Single Judge vide order dated 17.04.2018, thereby directing the respondents to pay compensation to the appellant. The relevant directions for payment of compensation are extracted as under:-
12. That being the conclusion, strict liability of the Railways is made out. The claim petition would have to be and is allowed. In terms of the Notification dated 27.12.2016 amending the Railways Accidents and Untoward Incidents (Compensation) Rules, 1990 the compensation for human fatality is Rs. 8 lacs. Accordingly, Rs. 8 lacs shall be paid to the appellants by the Respondent/Railways. In view of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Union of India vs. Rina Devi, Civil Appeal No.4945/2018 pronounced on 09.05.2018, interest can be awarded from the date of the accident itself when the liability of the Railways arises upto the date of payment. The notified compensation amount for loss of life in a rail accident was Rs. 4 lacs till 26.12.2016 whereafter it was revised to Rs.[8] lacs w.e.f. 27.12.2016. Accordingly, an interest @ 9% per annum is awarded on Rs. 4 lacs from the date of the accident i.e. 01.11.2012 till 26.12.2016 and on Rs.[8] lacs from 27.12.2016 till payment. The said amount shall be deposited within six weeks, from the date of receipt of this order, in the UCO Bank, Delhi High Court Branch and shall be kept by the Bank. Upon deposit, Rs.[2] lac shall be released to the claimant/appellant-the father of the deceased, in his bank account maintained in a Bank near his place of residence. The remaining amount shall be kept in interest 2 RCT Act 3 RCT bearing FDRs of Rs. 50,000/- each, to mature every successive year. The details of the appellant's accounts shall be furnished to the Manager-UCO Bank, Delhi High Court Branch. Copies of the same shall be filed in the Court supported by an affidavit. Upon maturity, the FDR amount along with interest accrued thereon, shall be directly transferred into the bank account of the appellant. The Manager, UCO Bank shall retain the original FDRs till their maturity. In case of exigency, the appellant may move the Court for directions.
4. Consequent to the main judgment dated 17.04.2018 passed by this Court in FAO 28/2016, the appellant filed an execution application before the RCT bearing No. 11/2020 before the Learned Railway Claims Tribunal and the during pendency of the same, an amount of Rs. 12,46,230/- was deposited by the respondent with the Additional Deputy Registrar, RCT[4] on 05.03.2021 instead of depositing the same in the bank account of the appellant, as was directed. Anyways, the execution application was disposed of by the RCT vide order dated 24.03.2022. However, in the meanwhile a Review Petition bearing No. 110/2021 was filed by the respondent/Indian Railways for modification of the order dated 17.04.2018, which was disposed of vide order dated 04.07.2022 by this Court, to the following effect:
5. Not satisfied, the applicant/appellant instituted a second review application bearing CM APPL. 9790/2023 & CM APPL. 9791/2023, which came to be decided by the learned Single Judge of this Court vide order dated 19.05.2023 wherein the following order was passed:
1. The learned counsel, for the parties submits that in terms of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 3799/ 2023 arising out of SLP (C) No. 17062/2022 titled Kamukayi & Ors. versus Union of India and Ors. passed on 16.05.2023, no further orders are required to be passed. The relevant para is reproduced as under:
23. Accordingly and as per the above discussion we allow this appeal.and set aside the impugned judgment dated 26.03.202.[1] passed by the High 'Court and also the Claims. Tribunal 'dated '29.06.2017. Consequently, claim application is allowed. The applicants are held entitled for compensation to the tune of Rs. 4,00,000/- along with interest @ 7% p.a. from the date of filing the claim application till its realization. It is made clear that after applying the rate of interest, if the final, figure is less than Rs. 8,00,000/-, then appellants shall be entitled to Rs. 8,00,000/-. The amount of compensation be satisfied by the respondents within a period of eight weeks. No order as to costs.”
2. In view of the above, the applications stand disposed off.”
6. The applicant/appellant in the present application under Section 151 CPC dated 05.09.2023 placing reliance on decision in the case of Union of India v. Rina Devi,[5] claims that the respondent is liable to pay interest on higher of the two amounts i.e., Rs. 8,00,000/- along with interest @ 9% per annum from the date of order i.e., 17.04.2018 till late payment on 24.03.2022, and therefore seeks, review and modification of the order dated 19.05.2023 accordingly.
7. Notice of the review application has been served upon the respondent and no reply is filed. However, the same is vehemently opposed.
ANALYSIS AND DECISION:
8. Having heard the submissions advanced by learned counsel for the rival parties, I find that the impugned order dated 19.05.2023 calls for review only with respect to the date from which interest is to be assessed and payable. In the cited case of Rina Devi (supra) the Supreme Court dealt with a claim for compensation arising out of a train accident where the victim/passenger died and inter alia there was an issue framed by the Supreme Court with regards to the date from which interest was to be granted on the compensation awarded, apart from the applicable rate of interest. In other words, whether interest should be paid from the date of filing of the claim petition seeking compensation, or from the date of the accident, besides the issue of rate of interest applicable. Suffice to state that after referring to a Civil Appeal No. 4945/2018 decided on 09.05.2018 plethora of decisions on the issue, previously passed by the Supreme Court, it was held as under:-
18. As already observed, though this Court in Thazhathe Purayil Sarabi (supra) held that rate of interest has to be at the rate of 6% from the date of application till the date of the award and 9% thereafter and 9% rate of interest was awarded from the date of application in Mohamadi (supra); rate of interest has to be reasonable rate at par with accident claim cases. We are of the view that in absence of any specific statutory provision, interest can be awarded from the date of accident itself when the liability of the Railways arises upto the date of payment, without any difference in the stages. Legal position in this regard is at par with the cases of accident claims under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Conflicting views stands resolved in this manner.
9. There is no gainsaying that it was the ratio in the case of Rina Devi (supra) that was relied upon by this Court while passing the initial order dated 17.04.2018 except that since the statutory amount of compensation was restricted to Rs. 4 lakhs, interest @ 9% could have only been awarded on such statutory restricted amount from the date of accident i.e. 01.11.2012 till realisation. Evidently, this Court in its review order dated 04.07.2022 rightly found that impugned original order was flawed as the compensation of Rs. 8 lakhs could not have been awarded.
10. Learned counsel for the respondent is correct in so far as to urge that this Court vide order dated 04.07.2022 rightly allowed interest @ 9% from the date of accident i.e. 01.11.2012 on Rs. 4 lakhs in view of the observations in a later decision by the Supreme Court titled Kamukayi & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. Civil Appeal No. 3799 of 2023 decided on 16.05.2023 wherein it was held as under:-
23. Accordingly and as per above discussion we allow this appeal and set aside the impugned judgment dated 26.03.2021 passed by the High Court and also the Claims Tribunal dated 29.06.2017. Consequently, claim application is allowed. The appellants are held entitled for compensation to the tune of Rs. 4,00,000/- along with interest @ 7% p.a. from the date of filing the claim application till its realisation. It is made clear that after applying the rate of interest, if the final figure is less than Rs. 8,00,000/-, then appellants shall be entitled to Rs. 8,00,000/-. The amount of compensation be satisfied by the respondents within a period of eight weeks. No order as to costs.
11. However, the plea of the learned counsel for the applicant/appellant that he is entitled to compensation of Rs. 8 lakhs from the date of accident till its realisation is misconceived and cannot be sustained. It is pertinent to indicate that in both cases, Rina Devi (supra) as well as Kamukayi (supra), the train accident had occurred resulting in death on 27.09.2014 and 20.08.2002 respectively and though it looks as though there is an apparent divergent opinion in the matter of Rina Devi (supra) and Kamukayi (supra) as to the date from which interest would be payable, it is not so.
12. At the cost of repetition, an issue with regards to the date from which interest might be claimed was specifically discussed and answered in Rina Devi (supra). The dictum decision in case of Rina Devi (supra) was cited with approval in the latter case of Kamukayi (supra) by the Supreme Court. The distinguishable fact is that in the latter case i.e., Kamukayi (supra), it was found that there was an inordinate delay on the part of the claimant in filing the claim petition and evidently it is in this background that interest was awarded from the date of filing of the claim application, and not from the date of the accident.
13. In the instant matter, no finding was recorded that there was any inordinate delay on the part of the applicant / appellant in approaching the Court and, therefore, based on the dicta laid down in the case of Rina Devi (supra), the appellant is entitled to claim interest from the date of accident till realisation. Hence, the second order on review dated 19.05.2023 holding that interest was claimable from the date of filing of the claim petition is not correct in law. The decision in Kamukayi (supra) took note of the enhancement of statutory compensation from Rs. 4 lakhs to Rs. 8 lakhs w.e.f 01.01.2017, and it was laid down that if the accident happened prior to such cut-off date and the compensation is awarded after such date, the claim amount shall be enhanced to higher amount of Rs. 8 lakhs in case the amount awarded plus interest comes to less than Rs. 8 lakhs.
14. In view of the foregoing discussion, the plea of the appellant that he is entitled to compensation of Rs. 8 lakhs from the date of order dated 17.04.2018 till its payment on 24.03.2022 is misconceived. However, the impugned order dated 19.05.2023 in so far as it reviewed the earlier order dated 17.04.2018 so as to provide award of interest from the date of filing of the claim petition cannot be sustained in law. The instant application is disposed of with the direction that the applicant / claimant is entitled to compensation of Rs. 4 lakhs with interest @9% w.e.f from date of accident i.e., 01.11.2012 till realisation. Accordingly, the respondent is directed to calculate the amount of compensation with interest within four weeks, and if there is any shortfall, the same be deposited with the RCT within 02 weeks thereafter failing which the respondent shall be liable to pay interest @ 9% till realization of the balance amount.
15. Likewise, in case there is found any amount due from the applicant/appellant after calculation as above, he be served with a notice to refund the excess amount, which shall be refunded within two weeks of the receipt of such notice, failing which the applicant/appellant shall be liable to pay the same with interest @ 9% from the date of default till its realisation.
16. The instant application is disposed of accordingly.
DHARMESH SHARMA, J. NOVEMBER 06, 2023