Case: Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation, Jaipur Vs. Smt. Poonam Pahwa and others

3. The relevant facts of the case are that an accident had taken place on May 7, 1983 in which one Shri Subhash Chand Pahwa who was travelling in the bus belonging to the appellant Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation from Jaipur to Delhi died due to accident by colliding with a truck. A claim petition was filed on August 23, 1983 by respondent No. 1, 2 and 3, namely, the widow, minor son and daughter of the deceased against the appellant and respondent No. 4, Shri Deepak Thakur who was the driver of Truck No. HRU 2995, respondent No. 5, Shri Durga Prasad Parnami, the owner of the said truck, respondent No. 6 M/s. New Delhi Assurance Company limited and respondent No. 7, Ami Chand being the driver of bus No. RNB 7720 of the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation.4. The Accidents Claim Tribunal passed an award in favour of the claimants, namely, Smt. Poonam Pahwa and her minor son and daughter and against the respondents including the appellant Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the Corporation) for a sum of Rs. 2.5 lacs with 12% interest from the date of filing of the claim petition till actual realisation.5. The appellant-Corporation deposited a cheque of Rs. 3,36,111.30 on June 27, 1986 in the executing Court comprising the decretal award of compensation and interest calculated on the decretal award up to the date of deposit of the said decretal amount. It is an admitted position that the decree holders were not informed either by the Court or by the judgment debtors about the deposit of the said sum of Rs. 3,36,111.30 on June 27, 1986 and the decree holders came to know about such deposit only on April 19, 1989. The decree holders, therefore made a claim for further interest at the said rate of 12% from the date of deposit till the decree holder got the information about such deposit made by the judgment debtors.Such claim was opposed by the appellant-Corporation by contending inter alia that there was no obligation of the appellant Corporation to give intimation to the decree holders about the deposit made by the Corporation and the provisions of Order XXI Rule 1 (2) of theCode of Civil Procedure is not applicable in respect of the award passed by the Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal and in any event if the Court had failed to give the intimation of such deposit, the judgment debtors would not suffer any prejudice on account of the mistake committed by the court. Such contentions, however, have been rejected by the Tribunal in the execution proceedings. The appellant-Corporation thereafter moved a Revision Petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the order passed by executing court for depositing further sum on account of the interest to be paid by the judgment debtors from the date of deposit of the said decretal amount till date when decree holders had got the information of such deposit. By the impugned judgment, the Review Petition has been dismissed by the High Court.

Court's reasoning:
In our view, Dr. Dhavan is justified in his submission that when Haryana has adopted the Punjab Motor Accidents Rules in 1972, it must be held that it has adopted the Punjab Rules as it stood on the date of adoption, namely, January 20, 1972. Order XXI of theCode of Civil Procedure has been expressly made applicable in Punjab Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal Rules by amending the Punjab Rules in June 1968 which was published in Gazette on July 12, 1968. Therefore, by adopting the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal Rules, 1964 in 1972, it should be held that Haryana has adopted the Punjab Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal Rules, 1964 as stood amended on the date of adoption.Order XXI Rule 1 Civil Procedure Code as amended in 1976 expressly provides that the judgment debtor shall give notice of the deposit of the decretal amount to the decree holder either through the Court or directly to the decree holder. The obligation of giving the notice to the decree holder is not absolved by simply depositing the amount without taking steps to ensure service of the notice of such deposit to the decree holder through Court or otherwise. Therefore, the appellant cannot escape its liability to pay interest to the decree holder for the period between the date of deposit of the decretal amount and the date of notice of such deposit of the decree holder.29.It appears to us that the provisions of Order XXI Rule 1 are not in any way inconsistent with the provisions for awarding just and fair compensation in Motor Accident Claims. The real purpose of awarding just and fair compensation to the victim of the accident or the legal heirs of such victim will be fulfilled by applying the principle of Order XXI Rule 1 Civil Procedure Code so that the awardee is not deprived of the opportunity of gainfully utilising the amount under the award for want of notice about the deposit made by judgment debtor resulting in the sum remaining unutilised. In our view, therefore, there is no difficulty to apply the underlying principles under Order XXI, Rule 1 Civil Procedure Code in executing the award of compensation passed by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal and the Tribunal must be held to be competent to invoke the beneficial provisions of Order XXI Rule 1 Civil Procedure Code.After the amendment of Order XXI Rule 1 in 1976, there is no scope for any controversy as to the liability of the judgment debtor when the decretal amount is deposited in Court but the notice of such deposit is not given to the decree holder. It is imperative that the judgment debtor has to give notice to the decree holder about deposit for the decretal amount. Since motor accident in the instant case, had taken place on May 7, 1983, Order XXI Rule 1 as amended in 1976 is clearly applicable. Even otherwise also, the provision of Order XXI Rule 1 being a procedural law, amended provisions of Order XXI Rule 1 are applicable even if the accident had taken place prior to 1976 because such amendment of procedural law is retrospective in its operation.