VINOD K.SHARMA, J. - (1.) THE present appeal has been filed against the award dated 5.10.1987 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Kurukshetra (hereinafter referred to as the 'Tribunal') vide which the Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs. 2,68,000/- as compensation on account of the death of Naresh Thakur aged 58 years.
(2.) THE learned counsel for the appellants only contested the part of the award vide which the learned Tribunal deducted a sum of Rs. 67,200/- out of the compensation awarded to the appellant. The Tribunal after assessing the compensation of Rs. 3,36,000/- deducted a sum of Rs. 67,200/- by observing as under :- "Twenty per cent has to be deducted on account of lump sum payment and keeping in view other imponderables such like early natural death of the deceased. Thus the net amount of the award comes to Rs. 3,36,000/- minus Rs. 67,200/- = Rs. 2,68,800/-." The contention of the learned counsel for the appellants was that this deduction was not justified. In support of his contention, he relied upon the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Hardeo Kaur v. Rajasthan State Transport Corporation, 1992 ACJ 300 wherein it was held as under :- "We are of the view that deduction of 1/3rd out of the assessed compensation on account of lump sum payment is not justified. The accident took place in July 1977 and the litigation has come to end, hopefully, today, 15 years thereafter. This Court in Motor Owners' Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Jadavjit Keshvaji Modi, 1981 ACJ 507 (SC), held that the delay in the final disposal of motor accident compensation cases, as in all other classes of litigation, takes a sting out of the laws of compensation and added to that the monstrous inflation and the consequent fall in the value of rupee makes the compensation demanded years ago less than quarter of its value when it is received after such a long time. In Manjushri Raha v. B.L. Gupta, 1977 ACJ 134 (SC), this Court awarded compensation by multiplying the life expectancy without making any deductions. With the value of rupee dwindling due to high rate of inflation, there is no justification for making deduction due to lump sum payment. We, therefore, hold that the Courts below were not justified in making lump sum deduction in this case." In view of the authoritative pronouncement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court the impugned part of award so far as it relates to deduction of Rs. 67,200/- on account of lump sum payment, cannot be sustained and accordingly this appeal is allowed and the impugned order is set aside. The claimant-appellant is held entitled to the deducted amount of Rs. 67,200/- along with interest @ 10% p.a. from the date of filing of the claim petition till realization. While passing the award, the learned Tribunal had ordered that in case the payment was not made upto 31st December 1987, the claimants shall be entitled to interest @ 15% p.a. instead of 10 per cent. However, the said direction would not be applicable to the compensation so awarded as no fault can be found with the respondent insurance company in not making the payment by due date in view of the fact that the said amount was ordered to be deducted out of the compensation granted. Appeal allowed.;