M.S.SHAH, J. - (1.) The appellant-Insurance Company had preferred First Appeal No.3736 of 2005 which came to be dismissed by order dated 20.12.2005. While dismissing the appeal, the Court directed the Registry to transmit the amount of Rs.25,000/- deposited by the appellant with the Registry of this Court under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 at the time of filing the said appeal before this Court. In spite of the said direction, on account of lack of coordination between the two Departments in the Registry, the amount of Rs.25,000/- was not transmitted for as long as eight months. However, in the course of execution proceedings, the Tribunal required the Insurance Company to deposit the said amount along with further interest of Rs.7117.50 ps. for the delay in payment of Rs.25,000/- to the claimants. The appellant-Insurance Company, therefore, preferred the present Misc. Civil Application for appropriate directions. We have given certain directions and also made certain observations. It has also been brought to our notice that some times while disposing of the stay application or at the time of summary dismissal of the First Appeal, the direction for transmitting the amount deposited under the first proviso to Section 173(1) is not sought and, therefore, the amount remains idle with the Registry of this Court for a number of years until one of the parties realizes such inadvertent mistake/s.
(2.) The office has, therefore, placed this report dated 27.12.2006 seeking appropriate directions/ clarifications regarding the statutory provisions of Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 requiring the appellant to deposit Rs.25,000/- or 50% of the amount awarded by the Tribunal, whichever is less, as to the forum before which such deposit may be made.
(3.) Section 173(1) reads as under:- "173. Appeals. - (1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), any person aggrieved by an award of a Claims Tribunal may, within ninety days from the date of the award, prefer an appeal to the High Court; Provided that no appeal by the person who is required to pay any amount in terms of such award shall be entertained by the High Court unless he has deposited with it twenty-five thousand rupees or fifty per cent of the amount so awarded, whichever is less, in the manner directed by the High Court; Provided further that the High Court may entertain the appeal after the expiry of the said period of ninety days, if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from preferring the appeal in time." It is obvious that the amount of Rs.25,000/- or the lesser amount, as the case may be, is to be treated as a part of the compensation amount awarded by the Tribunal.;