1 fa1475.sxw ssp IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELATE JURISDICTION FIRST APPEAL NO.1475 OF 2010 Ananda Gunda Kamble & Ors. ...Appellants vs. Kusum Rajgonda Patil & Ors. ...Respondents Mr.S.G.Thorat for the appellants None for the respondents CORAM :A.S.OKA,J. DATE :DECEMBER 8,2010 ORAL JUDGMENT : 1 Notice was issued for final disposal at admission stage. Office noting shows that the notice is served. None appears for the respondents. 2 The appellants are the claimants in a claim petition under section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act,1988 (hereinafter referred to as the said Act). A claim was filed by the appellants on account of death of their son in a motor accident. The first respondent is the owner of the offending vehicle and the second respondent is the insurer of the offending vehicle. 3 The Claims Tribunal allowed the claim petition by the impugned Judgment and Award by granting compensation of Rs.2,05,000/-. However, interest on the compensation amount from the date of filing of the claim petition was not granted. The tribunal directed that if the compensation was not deposited within sixty days, interest will be payable on the compensation amount at the rate of 9% p.a from the date of award. 2 fa1475.sxw 4 The submission of the learned counsel for the appellants is that there is no reason recorded by the Tribunal to deny the interest from the date of filing of the claim petition. He submitted that there is no finding that there was any delay in disposal of the proceedings due to any default on the part of the appellant. 5 I have considered the submissions. I have perused the impugned Judgment. In the Judgment, no reasons have been assigned for not granting the interest. There is nothing on record to show that due to absence or non co- operation on the part of the appellants, there was a delay in disposal of the claim petition. The claim petition was filed on 16th October 2002 which was disposed of in April 2009. Under section 171 of the said Act, there is a power vesting in the tribunal to grant interest for a period not earlier than from the date of filing of the claim. In the present case, there was no reason to deny the interest from the date of filing of the claim. Hence, clause (3) of the impugned Judgment and Award will have to be modified. 6 Hence, I pass the following order : i) Clause (3) of the operative part of the impugned Judgment and Award is modified by directing that the respondents shall be liable to pay interest on the compensation amount at the rate of 9% p.a from 16th October 2002 till the date on which compensation amount is deposited with the Tribunal. ii)Appeal is partly allowed in above terms with no order as to costs. JUDGE