HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE K.S. APPA RAO C.M.A.No.1133 of 2008 Date: 24-06-2011 Between: The New India Assurance Company Limited ……. Appellant And Ameera Ramdas and two others ……… Respondents HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE K.S. APPA RAO C.M.A.No.1133 of 2008 JUDGMENT: This appeal is filed against the order dated 22-01-2006 passed in W.C.Case No.23 of 2003 on the file of the Commissioner for Workmen’s Compensation and Assistant Commissioner of Labour, Khammam. The appellant-Insurance Company is the second respondent in the said W.C. Case. For the sake of convenience, the parties hereinafter will be referred to as they are arrayed before the Commissioner. 2. The brief facts of the case are that on 20-11-2002, the deceased by name Azeera Sankar, who was working as a coolie, went for coolie work on the tractor/trailer bearing registration Nos.AP 20V 1409/1410, which belongs to the first respondent, to Harichandrapuram village outskirts quarry for getting red soil for road work and while returning at about 16-00 hours, when the tractor crossed Harichandrapuram road, the driver of the tractor/trailer drove it in a rash and negligent manner and could not control the vehicle as another tractor was coming in the opposite direction, due to which the tractor turned turtle and the deceased sustained multiple injuries all over the body. He was shifted immediately to the Government Head Quarters Hospital, Khammam and subsequently to Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad, but he died on 25-12-2003 due to shock from renal failure. Therefore, the petitioners, who are the parents of the deceased, filed the O.P. claiming compensation of Rs.3,00,000/- under all the heads. 3. During the course of trial, on behalf of the petitioners, the first petitioner was examined as PW-1 and Exs.A-1 to A-6 were marked. On behalf of the respondents, the owner of the offending vehicle was examined as RW-1 and Ex.B-1, copy of the insurance policy, was marked. The learned Commissioner, after considering the oral and documentary evidence by both sides, granted the compensation of Rs.2,21,415/- under all the heads along with interest @ 12% per annum after 30 days from the date of application till the date of payment, and made the respondents, who are the owner of the offending vehicle and the Insurance Company respectively, jointly and severally liable to pay the said amount of compensation. Aggrieved by the same, the Insurance Company preferred the present Appeal. 4. The learned counsel for the appellant-Insurance Company mainly urged that the learned Commissioner, while awarding the compensation, granted interest @ 12% per annum under Section 4(A)(3) of the amended Act, 1995 on the compensation and the said interest is calculated after 30 days from the date of petition till the date of payment which is erroneous and in support, he placed reliance on the decision reported in KAMLA CHATURVEDI v. NATIONAL INSURANE CO. LTD. [1]. 5. Now the point for consideration is whether the interest is to be granted as urged by the appellant’s counsel? 6. As seen from the impugned order, the learned Commissioner directed the owner of the offending vehicle to pay interest at 12% per annum after 30 days from the date of application till the date of payment. But, in the aforesaid decision, their Lordships held that in the cases fall under the Workmen Compensation Act, the interest shall be granted @ 7.5% per annum from the date of petition till the date of disposal and thereafter it shall be payable as ordered by the Commissioner. Therefore, as the finding of the learned Commissioner with regard to interest is contrary to the aforesaid ruling, the same is set aside. 7. Accordingly, the compensation granted by the learned Commissioner carries interest @ 7.5 % per annum from the date of petition till the date of order and thereafter @ 12% per annum till the date of realisation. 8. Subject to the above modification, the Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is allowed in part. No costs. _______________ K.S. APPA RAO, J Date:24-06-2011 YCR [1] 2009 ACJ 115