SABERABIBI YAKUBBHAI SHAIKH & ORS.versusNATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. & ORS.

                   (2014] 1 S.C.R. 303


       SABERABIBI YAKUBBHAI SHAIKH & ORS.                     A
                          v.
       NATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. & ORS.
             (Civil Appeal No.8 of 2014)
                   JANUARY 02, 2014
                                                              B
 [SURINDER SINGH NIJJAR AND FAKKIR MOHAMED
            IBRAHIM KALIFULLA, JJ.]

    WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT, 1923:
                                                              c
    Interest on compensation - Relevant date - Held:
Claimants are entitled to interest @12% from the date of
accident and not from the date of award.

     Pratap Narain Singh Deo v. Srinivas Sabata (1976) 1
SCC 289; Oriental Insurance Company Limited vs. Siby          D
                                        =
George and others 2012 (6) SCR 1079 (2012) 12 SCC 540
- relied on.

     National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Mubasir Ahmed 2007
            =
(2) scR 111 (2007) 2 sec 349 and (2011) 14 sec 758;           E
Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Mohd. Nasir 2009 (8) SCR 829
= (2009) 6 sec 280 - stood held per incuriam.
    Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation now
Uttarakhand Transport Corporation versus Satnam Singh         F
(2011) 14 sec 758 - cited.

                    Case Law Reference :
    (2011) 14 sec 758       cited                para 7
    2012 (6) SCR 1079       relied on            para 9       G
    2007 (2) SCR 117        held per incuriam para 10
    2009 (8) SCR 829        held per incuriam para 10

                           303                                H
    304      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                [2014] 1 S.C.R.


A         (1976) 1 sec 2s9         relied on               para 10
         CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 8
    of 2014.

       From the Judgment and Order dated 24.01.2012 of the
B High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad in First Appeal No. 197
  of 2012.

       O.P. Bhadani. Ashok Anand, Rakesh Kumar Singh, Fazal
    Ahmad for the Appellants.
c       S.L. Gupta, Ram Ashray, D.P. Singh Yadav, J.P. Jayant,
    Shalu Sharma for the Respondents.

          The following order of the Court was delivered

D                              ORDER
          1. Delay condoned.

          2. Leave granted.

E      3. The appellants are the wife and the relatives of
  deceased driver who died in a road accident. The deceased
  driver was driving a truck bearing No. GJ-17-T-8607, which was
  owned by Yunusbhai Gulambhai Shaikh, respondent No.2
  herein. The deceased was 36 years of age at the time of the
F accident. On 20th November, 1996, the appellants raised a
  claim of compensation for a sum of Rs.2, 15,280/- and 12%
  interest therein from the date of accident by filing a claim
  application before the Workmen Compensation Commissioner/
  Labour Court. After passage of more than 16 years, the wife
G and children of the deceased driver had still not received any
  compensation.
      4.' The appellants filed a compensation application before
  the Workmen Compensation Commissioner/Labour Court on
  20th November, 1996. The appellants made a claim of
H Rs.2, 15,280/- and also penalty to the tune of 50% of the
   SABERABIBI YAKUBBHAI SHAIKH v. NATIONAL                 305
             INSURANCE CO. LTD.
compensation i.e. a sum of Rs.1,07,640/-, thus, making the         A
grand total of Rs.3,22,920/-. Respondent No.1- the Insurance
Company, contested the compensation application. On 23th
December, 2010, the learned Commissioner awarded
compensation on account of death in the sum of Rs.2, 13,570/
- with 12% interest from the date of accident. The learned         8
Commissioner also awarded Rs.1,06, 785/- as penalty.

    5. Aggrieved and dissatisfied with the aforesaid judgment
and award passed by the learned Commissioner, the Insurance
Company filed First Appeal before the High Court.
                                                                   c
     6. By judgment and order, dated 24th January, 2012, the
High Court has partly allowed the First Appeal. The High Court
directed the respondent No.1 - Insurance Company to pay
interest on the amount of compensation from the date of
adjudication of claim application i.e. 23th December, 2010 and     D
not from one month after from the date of accident i.e. 21st
August, 1996. A further direction· was issued that the excess
amount towards interest, If any, deposited by the respondent
No.1 - Insurance Company be refunded to it. The judgment and
order of the Commissioner for Workmen Compensation was             E
modified to that extent.

      7. In coming to the aforesaid conclusion, the High Court
relied upon the judgment of this Court reported in Uttar Pradesh
State Road Transport Corporation now Uttarakhand Transport
Corporation versus Satnam Singh, (2011) 14 sec 758,                F
wherein it has been held that the interest was payable under
the Workmen Compensation Act from the date of the Award
and not from the date of accident.              ·

     8. Aggrieved by the aforesaid judgment of the Hgh Court,      G
the appellants have filed the present appeal.

     9. Learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that
the aforesaid judgment of the High Court is contrary to the law
laid down by this Court in the case of Oriental Insurance          H
    306      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                  [2014) 1 S.C.R.

A   Company Limited versus Siby George and others [(2012) 12
    sec 540J.                                 ·

       10. We have perused the aforesaid judgment. We are of
  the considered opinion that the aforesaid judgment relied upon
  by the learned counsel for the appellants is fully applicable to
B the facts and circumstances of this case. This Court considered
  the earlier judgment relied upon by the High Court and
  observed that the judgments in the case of National Insurance
  Co. Ltd. v. Mubasir Ahmed [(2007) 2 SCC 349] and Oriental
  Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Mohd. Nasir [(2009) 6 SCC 280) were
C per incuriam having been rendered without considering the
  earlier decision in Pratap Narain Singh Deo v. Srinivas Sabata
  [(1976) 1 SCC 289). In the aforesaid judgment, upon
  consideration of the entire matter, a four-judge Bench of this
  Court had held that the compensation has to be paid from the
D date of the accident.

        11. Following the aforesaid judgments, this Court in
    Oriental Insurance Company Limited versus Siby George and
    others (supra) reiterated the legal position and held as follows:
E         "11. The Court then referred to a Full Bench decision of
          the Kerala High Court in United India Insurance Co. Ltd.
          v. Alavi and approved it insofar as it followed the decision
          in Pratap Narain Singh Deo.

F         12. The decision in Pratap Narain Singh Deo was by a
          four-judge Bench and in Valsala K. by a three-judge Bench
          of this Court. Both the decisions were, thus, fully binding
          on the Court in Mubasir Ahmed and Mohd. Nasir, each of
          which was heard by two Judges. But the earlier decisions
G         in Pratap Narain Singh Deo and Valsala K. were not
          brought to the notice of the Court in the two later decisions
          in Mubasir Ahmed and Mohd. Nasir.

          13. In the light of the decisions in Pratap Narain Singh Deo
          and Va Isa la K., it is not open to contend that the payment
H
   SABERABIBI YAKUBBHAI SHAIKH v. NATIONAL                     307
             INSURANCE CO. LTD.
       of compensation would fall due only after the                  A
       Commissioner's order or with reference to the date on
       which the claim application is made. The decisions in
       Mubasir Ahmed and Mohd. Nasir insofar as they took a
       contrary view to the earlier decisions in Pratap Narain
       Singh Deo and Valsala K. do not express the correct view       B
       and do not make binding precedents."

       12. In view of the aforesaid settled proposition of law, the
appeal is allowed and the judgment and order of the High Court
is set aside. The appellants shall be entitled to interest at the
rate of 12% from the date of the accident.                            C

       13. No cost.
R.P.                                             Appeal allowed.