NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED Vs. KALPANA MUDI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) These two appeals arise out of the common judgment of the High Court dtd. 10/12/2020. We are taking the Civil Appeal No.5730 of 2021 filed by the insurance company as the lead matter.

(3.) Briefly, the facts of the case are that an accident had taken place on 9/12/2012 in which the husband of respondent no.1 and father of respondent nos.2 and 3 received fatal injuries. A claim petition was filed by the claimants. By an order dtd. 23/12/2016 the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal ('Tribunal') awarded compensation of Rs.37,75,112.00 along with 6% interest. In appeal, the High Court has, for detailed reasons given in its judgment, set aside the award of the Tribunal and remanded the matter. However, while allowing the appeal of the insurance company, the High Court awarded costs of Rs.45,000.00 in favour of the claimants, which was to be paid by the insurance company. Besides that, since as an interim measure the insurance company was directed to deposit a part of the awarded amount in the registry of the High Court, the High Court directed that the amount so deposited be refunded to the insurance company but the interest accrued on the said deposit by the insurance company was to be paid to the Registrar General towards building expenses of the High Court premises. The insurance company is aggrieved by the latter part of the order directing the interest to be used for the building expenses of the High Court premises. The other appeal is of the claimants challenging the remand of the claim case before the Tribunal to be decided afresh.