Calcutta High Court
M/S. Eastern Coalfield Ltd vs Bimali Majhain & Ors on 11 July, 2016
Author: Nishita Mhatre
Bench: Nishita Mhatre
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
Civil Appellate Jurisdiction
Original Side
Present :
The Hon'ble Justice Nishita Mhatre
And
The Hon'ble Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty
July 11, 2016
GA 1431 of 2016
APOT 151 of 2016
GA 1440 of 2016
WP 661 of 2015
M/s. Eastern Coalfield Ltd.
Vs.
Bimali Majhain & Ors.
Mr. Bijay Kumar, Advocate for the appellant
Mr. Partha Ghosh, Advocate for the respondents
The Court :- This dishonest appeal has been filed by M/s . Eastern Coalfield Ltd. Despite several judgements holding the field in which the law has been settled that the female dependent must be paid compensation in terms of the National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA) without her having to file an application, Eastern Coalfield has chosen to challenge the order of the learned Single Judge.
There is no dispute that the respondent's husband was employed with the Eastern Coalfield. He died while in service on 6th February, 1998. The respondent submitted an application on 12th April, 1998 contending that she should be appointed on compassionate grounds in place of her husband. This application was not processed as no supporting documents were produced by her. She submitted the second application on 14th November, 1998 along with the required documents. 2 However, that application was also not processed. After fifteen years a third application was submitted by the respondent on 21st January, 2013 claiming monetary compensation in lieu of service on compassionate grounds. This application was dismissed on the ground that the provisions of the NCWA did not stipulate that compensation should be granted to the female dependant after such a long period of time and therefore the General Manager of Coal India decided that her application was barred by limitation.
This order was challenged by the respondent on 21st August, 2013. The learned Single Judge allowed the petition and directed that Bimali Majhian would be entitled to compensation in terms of the NCWA. The learned Single Judge observed that compensation could not be granted from the date of death as her claim was obviously barred by limitation. He, therefore, observed that the compensation should be granted from the date of the last application and directed the Eastern Coalfield to consider whether the compensation for the earlier period should be permitted. The Eastern Coalfield passed an order directing that such compensation should not be granted.
Aggrieved by that order she challenged the same before the learned Single Judge of this Court by filing WP 661 of 2015. By an order dated 11th January 2016 the writ petition was allowed in terms of the order passed in WP 660 of 2015. Both these orders have been annexed to the present stay application.
We have perused the order in WP 660 of 2015 and we find that there is no error of law apparent on the face of the record which requires us to interfere with the order of the learned Single Judge. The learned Single Judge has relied on the judgement in the case of Kajoli Bauri and several other judgements to conclude that the coal companies no longer have the option of denying compensation due to the widow of any deceased workman who had died in harness. It was held that 3 the compensation would be payable each month from the month following the date of death of the workman. The learned Judge directed that the Eastern Coalfield was liable to pay interest at the rate of 6% per annum on the monthly payment of arrears if the entire payment is made within four months from the date of the order; failing this, interest would be payable @ 10% per annum. Costs of 1000 G.Ms. were awarded to the respondent which were to be paid along with the first payment in terms of the order.
This appeal has been preferred after a delay of 81 days. The only reason given in the application is that there were administrative delays. Such reasons are not sufficient for condoning the delay. However, we have also considered the merits of the appellant's case. It is now well settled in view of the judgement in the case of M/s. Eastern Coalfield vs. Dewanti Kumari & Ors. Reported in (2016) 3 WBLR (Cal) 464 that compensation is payable to the female dependant of an employee from the date of his death and not from the date when the application was submitted. as the cause of action is continuous, starting from the date of the death of the employee.
In this judgement the Division Bench to which one of us (Mhatre, J.) was a party considered the decision in the case of Chhaya Singh Sardar in GA 3117 of 2007, APOT 518 of 2007, WP 300 of 2006 decided on 28th August, 2008 and in the case of Kajoli Bouri in WP 4 of 2014.
Despite the law on this issue being settled in no uncertain terms, the Eastern Coalfield has filed the present appeal. In our opinion this is a deliberately dishonest act on the part of the Eastern Coalfield. The appeal has been filed only to delay and defeat the claim of the respondent. The harassment meted out to a dependant wife of an employee who died in harness by the Eastern Coalfield is condemnable. The nonchalant attitude of the Eastern Coalfield which is a 4 public sector undertaking while dealing with the dues payable to a female dependant of an employee who dies in harness is truly reprehensible.
We, therefore, dismiss the appeal with costs quantified at Rs. 25,000/- . After delivering the judgement, the learned counsel appearing for the Eastern Coalfield seeks stay of the order. Stay is refused for the reasons mentioned above.
(Nishita Mhatre, J.) (Tapabrata Chakraborty, J.) ANC