1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD FIRST APPEAL NO. 1254 OF 2008 Anand Nagnathappa Bhagat Age : 29 yrs. Occ : Education & Business, R/o Ghandi Park, Parbhani. Appellant V/s 1. Abdul Masjid Khan Haji Abdul Khan Age yrs. Occ.Business, R/o Raheman Ganj, Jalna, Dist.Jalna. 2. The New India Assurance Company Ltd., Through its Branch Manager, Branch at Yeshodeep Building Shivaji Road, Parbhani. Respondents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. P. N. Sonpethkar, the Advocate for appellant. Mr. Usmanpurkar holding for Mr. K. V. Kulkarni, Advocate for R.No.2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (CORAM : R.K. DESHPANDE, J.) DATE : 22nd September, 2009. ORAL JUDGMENT : 1. Notice of this appeal was issued on 2nd April, 2008. By an order dated 03.08.2009, the parties were put on notice that the matter may be finally disposed of at the stage of admission. Hence, admit. The matter is heard by the consent of parties finally. 2. This is an appeal preferred by the original claimants challenging the Judgment and award dated 18th January, 2008 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal at Parbhani in Motor Accident Claim Petition No.120/2001. The challenge in this appeal is restricted to the 2 question of award of interest. The Tribunal has passed the order that, if the amount of compensation which is of Rs.2,06,000/- is not deposited as per the directions, the said amount shall carry interest at the rate of 8% p.a. from the date of filing of the Petition till its realisation. The challenge is on the ground that, the award of interest should not have been conditioned and it should have been granted without condition in view of the section 171 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. 3. The section 171 of the Motor Vehicle Act deals with the award of interest is reproduced below :- Section 171. Award of interest where any claim is allowed :- “Where any Claims Tribunal allows a claim for compensation made under this Act, such Tribunal may direct that in addition to the amount of compensation simple interest shall also be paid at such rate and from such date not earlier than the date of making the claim as it may specify in this behalf. “ The aforesaid provision confers discretion upon the Tribunal to direct in addition to amount of compensation, the simple interest shall 3 also be paid at such rate and from such date not earlier than the date of making claim as it may specify on this behalf. The award of interest therefore does not depend upon whether, the claimant deposits an amount of compensation within stipulated period or not Apart from this, the learned Counsel appearing for the respondent no.2 insurance company has also urged that the Tribunal is also required to take into consideration the events leading to the delay in disposal of the claim petition. He has urged that, it was at the instance of the claimants that the matter was adjoured from time to time, although in May, 2001 itself, the insurance company filed its written statement. However, all these aspects have not been considered by the Tribunal. 4. In view of the above, the order of the Tribunal dated 18th March, 2008 in respect of award of interest needs to be set aside with a direction to the Tribunal to decide the issue of interest on its own merits in accordance with provisions of section 171 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, by taking into consideration all the relevant aspects of the matter which will be put forwarded by both the Counsels in support of their rival contentions. 5. In the result, I pass the following order:- (i) the instant appeal is partly allowed. The order directing the 4 respondent nos.1 and 2 to pay amount of compensation of Rs. 2,06,000/- is maintained. (ii) The order regarding interest, which is conditional, is set aside and the matter is remanded back to the Tribunal. (iii) The Tribunal is directed to decide the issue of interest within a period of two months from the date of receipt of copy of this judgment. There shall be no order as to cost. The office is directed to forward the Record and Proceedings to the Tribunal immediately. (R.K. DESHPANDE) JUDGE GAS/fa1254.08