FAO No.5121 of 2009 (O&M) - 1 - IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH **** FAO No.5121 of 2009 (O&M) DATE OF DECISION: 17.5.2010 **** Sh. Raghubir Singh and another . . . . Appellants VS. Union of India through General Manager, Northern Railways, Baroda House, New Delhi . . . . Respondents **** CORAM : HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE RAKESH KUMAR JAIN **** Present: - Mr.Namit Sharma, Advocate for the appellants. Mr.Jagdish Marwaha, Advocate for the respondents. **** RAKESH KUMAR JAIN J. (ORAL) This appeal has been preferred by the claimants/appellants who have been awarded Rs.2 lacs each on account of compensation for the death of Kuldeep Singh. The first grievance of the appellants is that while awarding the compensation, whole of the amount of compensation has been ordered to be kept in fixed deposits in the names of the appellants in some Nationalized Bank for a period of three years and the appellants were held entitled to withdraw quarterly interest on the said FDRs. It was also ordered that no charge would be created on each of the FDR till the date of their maturity and the respondents were ordered to make payment of interest @ 9% from the date of its order till FAO No.5121 of 2009 (O&M) - 2 - realization in case the amount is not paid within 60 days from the date of award. The second grievance of the appellants is that though they are adult/major yet the amount has been illegally ordered to be kept in the Fixed Deposits by the Tribunal. It is urged that it is now well settled that in case of compensation awarded to adult/major, the said amount cannot be ordered to be kept in the Fixed Deposit. In this regard, he relied upon decision of the Supreme Court in the case of “H.S. Ahammed Hussain and another Versus Irfhan Ahammed and another” 2002 (3) RCR (Civil) 563 and a judgment of this Court in the case of “Asraf Versus MACT Gurgaon” 2007 (4) RCR (Civil) 301. The third grievance of the appellants is that the amount of interest has been ordered to be paid after 60 days from the date of order. In this regard, he has relied upon a decisions of the Supreme Court in the case of “N.Parameshwaram Pillai Versus Union of India” 2002 ACJ 841 (SC), “A.A. Haja Muniuddin Versus Indian Railways” 1993 ACJ 235 SC and decision of Division Bench of Kerala High Court in the case of “Union of India Versus Thankaraj” 2000 ACJ 651 to contend that the interest should have been awarded from the date of claim petition not from the order. On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondent has failed to defend the order of the Tribunal on both the counts nor could cite any judgment contrary to the judgments relied upon by the learned counsel for the appellants. In view of the above discussion, present appeal is allowed. The order of the Railway Tribunal is modified to the extent that the amount of compensation awarded to both the appellant to the extent of FAO No.5121 of 2009 (O&M) - 3 - 2 lac each shall be paid to them forthwith with 9% interest from the date of filing of claim petition till the date of its realization. (RAKESH KUMAR JAIN) 17.05.2010 JUDGE Vivek