- (1.) IN this matter, appellant Smt. Bali Devi w/o Late Shri Satya Narayan Trivedi has challenged the order dated 1.12.1999 given by Workmen Compensation Case No. WL/F/9/92 titled as Smt. Bali Devi v. Assistant Engineer, PHED & ors. and it has been prayed in the appeal that the order dated 1.12.1999 be set aside and the compensation amounting to Rs.99,412.43 p. be granted to the appellant including interest and penalty as mentioned in the prayer.
(2.) THE appellant claims that principal amount of Rs.53,164/ -, penalty amount of Rs. 26,582/ - and interest of Rs. 19,666.43 p. should have been awarded by the Workmen's Compensation Commissioner to her in relation to accidental death of her husband. Thus in total, an award of Rs. 99,412.43 p. has been prayed to be passed in place of award of Rs. 53,314/ - which was passed by the Commissioner(Workmen's Compensation Act), Sirohi. My attention has been drawn to Section 4A of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923(Now known as 'the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923'), which reads as under: - "4A. Compensation to be paid when due and penalty for default. - (1) Compensation under Section 4 shall be paid as soon as it falls due. (2) In cases where the employer does not accept the liability for compensation to the extent claimed, he shall be bound to make provisional payment based on the extent of liability which he accepts, and, such payment shall be deposited with the Commissioner or made to the employee, as the case may be, without prejudice to the right of the employee to make any further claim. (3) Where any employer is in default in paying the compensation due under this Act within one month from the date it fell due, the Commissioner shall - (a) direct that the employer shall, in addition to the amount of the arrears, pay simple interest thereon at the rate of twelve per cent per annum or at such higher rate not exceeding the maximum of the lending rates of any scheduled bank as may be specified by the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, on the amount due; and (b) if, in his opinion, there is no justification for the delay, direct that the employer shall,in addition to the amount of the arrears and interest thereon, pay a further sum not exceeding fifty per cent of such amount by way of penalty. Provided that an order for the payment of penalty shall not be passed under clause (b) without giving a reasonable opportunity to the employer to show cause why it should not be passed. Explanation. - For the purposes of this sub - section, "scheduled bank" means a bank for the time being included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934( 2 of 1934). 3A The interest and the penalty payable under sub -section(3) shall be paid to the employee or his dependant, as the case may be."
(3.) BOTH the respondents have remained absent despite service in the matter, so ex parte final arguments have been heard by me. In the order dated 1.12.1999, the Commissioner(W.C.Act), Sirohi has dismissed the prayer of the appellant and has disallowed the penalty and interest on the compensation amount.;