Rajesh Tandon, J.
1. Heard Sri Rajendra Dobhal Counsel for the appellant.
Present appeals have been filed against the judgment and award dated 19.7.1999 and order dated 12.12.2000 passed by the Workmen Compensation Commissioner, Haldwani awarding a sum of Rs. 55,677.00 as compensation to the claimant.
2. The claimant-respondent has filed a claim petition before the Workmen Compensation Commissioner, Haldwani for grant of compensation on account of injuries sustained by him in an accident.
3. Briefly stated the claimant was working as Labourer in C.R.C. Pantnagar in the establishment of the defendant on daily wages. He sustained grievous injury on his leg in an accident during his employment. His leg vessels were cut in the accident and he has become permanently disabled. His employer did not pay any compensation for his injuries in the accident. He has got medical treatment and he has become 50% disabled. The claimant has claimed a compensation of Rs. 75,000/- along with penalty and interest.
4. The opposite party has admitted that the claimant was labour on daily wages in the University and was getting daily wages of Rs. 35/-. The defendant has admitted that his leg was injured in the accident but after recovery he was doing work as a normal labour. The defendant has given him Rs. 1,000/- for injury.
5. The claimant has examined himself and has stated that he sustained injuries in his leg while he was doing work with the Compine Machine. He was employed on daily wages and was getting Rs. 1,200/- per month. He remained admitted in the Base Hospital, Haldwani and his employer paid him Rs. 1,000/-as compensation. He has stated that after examining of his injury the Chief Medical Officer issued him disability certificate which is Ex.Ka-2 and he has been shown 50% disabled.
6. The defendant examined D.W.1 Sri S.K. Malik, Joint Director, This witness has stated that the claimant was employed on daily wages of Rs. 35/-. On 29.4.1994 he sustained simple injuries and three to tour vessels of his leg were cut in the machine. The accident took place due to the own negligence of the claimant. He was given Rs. 1,000/- hum labour welfare fund. After treatment for 19 days the claimant became fit and he thereafter worked in the University on the same wages.
7. The Commissioner has calculated the compensation on the basis of his monthly wages i.e. Rs. 1050/- maximum Rs. 1,000/- and after multiplying by relevant factor a compensation of Rs. 55,677/- has been fixed. The defendant was directed to pay the compensation within 30 days,
8. Thereafter, on 13.9.1999, the defendant moved a modification application in the Court below and has submitted that the Court below has wrongly calculated the compensation. The claimant has not sustained 50% disablement. The claimant filed objection against the modification application.
9. The Workmen's Compensation Commissioner vide impugned order dated 29.12.2000 has held that the compensation has been rightly calculated and modification application is not maintainable. The defendant filed the application with a view to delay the payment to the claimant. The Court below has directed the defendant to pay interest on the amount of compensation @ 6% per annum from the date of accident till 29.11.2000 which was calculated to be Rs. 20,044/-.
10. Counsel for the appellant has urged that the Workmen's Compensation Commissioner has wrongly directed to pay interest from the date of accident while it should be fixed from the date of adjudication. He placed reliance on National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Mubasir Ahmed and Anr. MANU/SC/0759/2007 : 2007 (112) FLR 1033 (SC) where the Apex Court has held as under:
9. Interest is payable under Section 4-A (3) if there is default in paying the compensation due under this Act within one month from the date it fell due. The question of liability under Section 4-A was dealt with by this Court in Maghar Singh v. Jashwant Singh MANU/SC/1402/1998 : 1998 (9) SCC 134. By amending Act 30 of 1995, Section 4-A of the Act was amended, inter alia, fixing the minimum rate of interest to be simple interest @ 12%. In the instant case, the accident took place after the amendment and, therefore, the rate of 12% as fixed by the High Court cannot be faulted. But the period as fixed by it is wrong. The starling point is on completion of one month from the date on which it fell due. Obviously it cannot be the date of accident. Since no indication is there as to when it becomes due, it has to be taken to be the date of adjudication of the claim. This appears to be so because Section 4-A(l) prescribes that compensation under Section 4 shall be paid as soon as it falls due. The compensation becomes due on the basis of adjudication of the claim made. The adjudication under Section 4 in some cases involves the assessment of loss of earning capacity by a qualified medical practitioner. Unless adjudication is done, question of compensation becoming due does not arise. The position becomes clearer on a reading of sub-section (2) of Section 4-A. It provides that provisional payment to the extent of admitted liability has to be made when employer does not accept the liability for compensation to the extent claimed. The crucial expression is 'falls due'. Significantly, legislature has not used the expression 'from the date of accident'. Unless there is adjudication, the question of an amount falling due does not arise.
11. In the present case the claimant was admitted in Soban Singh Jeena Base Hospital, Haldwani on 20.11.1994, where the Surgeon examined his injuries. The medical slip is Ex.Ka-3 on record. Therefore, in view of the observation in the case of Mubasir Ahmed (supra), the date of adjudication under Section 4 of the Act, is 29.11.1994, on which date the injured was admitted in the Government Hospital and doctor had examined his injuries. To make it more clear Section 4 of the Act, needs to be quoted. It reads as under:
[4. Amount of compensation.-
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the amount of compensation shall be as follows, namely:
(a) Where death results from the An amount equal to [eighty thousandinjuriy which- rupees] of the monthly wages of thedeceased workmanMultiplied by the relevant factor;orAn amount of ninty thousand rupees],whichEver is more;(b) Where permanent total the An amount equal to [sixty per cent] ofdisablement results from the monthly wages of the injured workmaninjury. multiplied by the relevant factor;orAn amount of [sixty thousand ever ismore;]Explanation.--For the purposes of clause (a) and clause (b) 'relevant factor' in relation to a workman means the factor specified in the second column of Schedule IV against the entry in the first column of that Schedule specifying the number of years which are the. same as the completed years of the age of the workman on his last birthday immediately preceding the date on which the compensatin fell due.
Explanation-II.--Where the monthly wages of a workman exeed [four thousand rupees], his monthly wages for the purposes of clause (a) and clause (b) shall be deemed to be [four thousand rupees] only;
(c) Where permanent partial (i) In the case of an injury specified indisablement results from Part II of Schedule I, suchthe injury percentage of the compensationwhich would have been payable inthe case of permanent totaldisablement as is specified thereinas being the percentage of the lossof earning capacity caused by thatinjury; and(ii) In the case of an injury notspecified in Schedule I, suchpercentage of the compensationpayable in the case of permanenttotal disablement as isproportionate to the loss of earningcapacity (as assessed by thequalified medical practitioner)permanently caused by the injury;Explanation-I.--Where more injuries than one are caused by the same accident, the amount of compensation payable under this head shall be aggregated but not so in any case as to exceed the amount which would have been payable if permanent total disablement had resulted from the injuries.
Explanation-II.--In assessing the loss of earning capacity for the purpose of sub-clause (ii), the qualified medical practitioner shall have due regard to the percentages of loss of earning capacity in relation to different injuries specified in Schedule 1;
(d) Where temporary disablement A half monthly payment of the sumwhether total or partial equivalent to twenty five percent ofresults from the injury with mostly wages of the workman, to bepaid in accordance the provisions ofsub-section (2).[(1-A)Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), while fixing the amount of compensation payable to a workman in respect of an accident occurred outside India,, the Commissioner shall take into account the amount of compensation, if any, awarded to such workman in accordance with the law of the country in which the accident occurred and shall reduce the amount fixed by him by the amount of compensation awarded to the workman in accordance with the law of that country.]
(2) The half-monthly payment referred to in clause (d) of sub-section (1) shall be payable on the sixteenth day-
(i) From the date of disablement where such disablement lasts for a period of twenty-eight days or more, or
(ii) After the expiry of a waiting period of three days from the date of disablement where such disablement lasts for a period of less than twenty-eight days; and thereafter half-monthly during the disablement or during a period of five years, whichever period is shorter:
Provided that--
(a) There shall be deducted from any lump sum or half-monthly payments to which the workman is entitled the amount of any payment or allowance which the workman has received from the employer by way of compensation during the period of disablement, prior to the receipt of such lump sum or of the first half-monthly payment, as the case may be; and
(b) No half-monthly payment shall in any case exceed the amount, if any by which half the amount of the monthly wages of the workman before the accident exceeds half the amount of such wages, which he is earning, after the accident.
Explanation.--Any payment or allowance which the workman has received from the employer towards his medical treatment shall not be deemed to be a payment or allowance received by him by way of compensation within the meaning of clause (a) of the proviso.
(3) On the ceasing of the disablement before the date on which any half-monthly payment falls due there shall be payable in respect of that half-monthly a sum proportionate to the duration of the disablement in that half-month.]
(4) If the injury of the workman results in his death, the employer shall, in addition to the compensation under sub-section (1), deposit with the Commissioner a sum of [two thousand and five hundred rupees] for payment of the same to the eldest surviving dependant of the workman towards the expenditure of the funeral of such workman or where the workman did not have a dependent or was not living with his dependent at the time, of his death to the person who actually incurred such expenditure.
12. Compensation fell due after one month of the date when the injured was medically examined by the doctor i.e. on 29.12.1994. Under Section 4-A of the Act, the interest to be simple interest @ 12% by amending Act 14 of 1995, with effect from 15.9.1995. Thus the claimant is entitled to get interest @ 6% per annum from 29.12.1994 to 14.9.1995 and from 15.9.1995 @ 12% per annum.
13. The order passed by the Court below is modified to the extent that claimant is entitled to get interest on the amount of award i.e. Rs. 55,677.00 @ 6% per annum from 29.12.1994 to 14,9.1995 and from 15.9.1995 till actual payment @ 12% per annum.
Subject to the observation made above regarding the interest, both the appeals are hereby dismissed.
No order as to costs.