IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH F.A.O. No. 2139 of 2008 Date of Decision : December 01, 2008 Balwinder Kaur and others ....Appellants Versus Union of India .....Respondent CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE T.P.S. MANN Present : Mr. Paul S. Saini, Advocate Mr. S.K. Pipat, Senior Advocate with Mr. Ramanjit Singh, Advocate T.P.S. MANN, J. On account of the death of Mukhwinder Singh Chawla in an untoward incident, which occurred on 7.9.2003, the appellants filed a claim application under Section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 read with Section 124-A of the Railways Act, 1989 seeking grant of compensation of Rs. 10,00,000/- from the respondent-Railways. Vide order dated 2.6.2008, learned Railway Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh allowed the claim application and granted a sum of Rs. 4,00,000/- to the appellants as compensation. Out of the said sum, Rs. 1,50,000/- was to be paid to each of Balwinder Kaur and Alhekh, while Abhekh Singh and Guneeta were to be paid an amount of F.A.O. No. 2139 of 2008 -2- Rs. 50,000/- each. The entire amount of compensation payable to the appellants was to be, however, kept in fixed deposits in their favour in some nationalised bank for a period of three years and the appellants were granted liberty to withdraw the quarterly interest on such FDRs without creating any charge on the same. However, the respondent- Railways was granted 60 days' time to make the payment of amount of compensation, failing which the appellants were entitled to claim interest on the same at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the order till the making of the payment. The grievance of the appellants is that the learned Tribunal did not grant any interest on the amount of compensation from the date of filing of the claim application and, instead, granted interest only in the event of the amount of compensation not being paid by the respondent- Railways within 60 days from the date of the impugned order. While relying upon N. Paramswaran Pillai and another v. Union of India and another, 2002 ACJ 841 (SC) and Smt. Rajwinder Kaur and others v. Union of India, F.A.O. No. 952 of 2006 decided on 19.11.2007, learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the appellants should have been granted interest at the rate of 12% per annum on the amount of compensation from the date of filing of the claim petition upto the actual realization. Learned counsel for respondent-Railways opposed the F.A.O. No. 2139 of 2008 -3- prayer made on behalf of the appellants by submitting that the interest on the amount of compensation was not payable from the date of filing of the claim petition but could accrue in favour of the appellants only in the event of the amount of compensation not being paid by the respondent-Railways within 60 days from the impugned order. It has also been submitted that in case interest has to be granted on the amount of compensation from the date of filing of the claim petition, the rate of interest be taken as 6% per annum instead of 12% per annum as claimed by the appellants. The untoward incident had taken place on 7.9.2003 when Mukhwinder Singh Chawla accidentally fell out of a train, which he had boarded from Tundla at about 9.15 A.M. and the train was approaching Aligarh Station. As a result of the same, Mukhwinder Singh Chawla suffered multiple injuries on his body and died at the spot. The claim application was filed by the appellants on 1.7.2004. It is from the said date that the appellants were required to be compensated for the injuries received by Mukhwinder Singh Chawla, which ultimately proved fatal. The compensation could not have been ordered from the date of the passing of the impugned order. In fact, in the aforementioned judgment rendered by Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, the claimants therein were granted interest at the rate of 9% per annum on the amount of compensation from the date of the claim petition till actual realization. Similar relief was also granted by this Court in the case of Rajwinder Kaur (supra). F.A.O. No. 2139 of 2008 -4- Another prayer made in the appeal is for releasing the awarded amount of compensation to the appellants immediately. It is submitted on their behalf that after the death of Mukhwinder Singh Chawla, the appellants have no source of income. They find it very difficult to meet even their day to day expenses. On the other hand, learned Tribunal directed that entire amount of compensation be kept in fixed deposits for a period of three years and the appellants were entitled to withdraw only the quarterly interest. Admittedly, Abhekh Singh, Guneeta and Alhekh appellants are minor. Therefore, their share of compensation is to be well protected by keeping the same in fixed deposits for a period of three years. However, in the case of Smt. Balwinder Kaur, appellant, who is admittedly major and on whose shoulders the entire burden of meeting the expenses of the house-hold has come, is entitled to the release of the amount of Rs. 1,50,000/-, which has been awarded to her by the learned Tribunal as compensation. That amount would be sufficient for her to run her house-hold. Apart from that she shall also be entitled to an interest of 9% per annum on her share of compensation from 1.7.2004 till the date of actual payment of compensation by the respondent- Railways. Resultantly, the present appeal is allowed by holding that the appellants are entitled to interest at the rate of 9% per annum on the F.A.O. No. 2139 of 2008 -5- amount of compensation from the date of filing of the claim petition till actual realization of the compensation amount. It is also directed that the amount of Rs. 1,50,000/-, which stands invested in a fixed deposit in favour of Smt. Balwinder Kaur appellant be prematurely encashed alongwith the accrued interest, if any, and along with the interest at the rate of 9% per annum, as held above, be released in her favour against proper identification and receipt. Further, the interest amount falling due to the shares of Abhekh Singh, Guneeta and Alhekh appellants be also kept in fixed deposits in their favour in the nationalised bank, preferably the same very bank in which amount of compensation already stood deposited, for a period commensurate with the earlier fixed deposits of compensation, amount, with liberty to the said appellants to withdraw quarterly interest on the same but without creating any charge on the same. ( T.P.S. MANN ) December 01, 2008 JUDGE satish