Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Mahendra Rai vs United India Ins.Co.Ltd. on 23 July, 2014
^, IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 6697 OF 2014
(Arising out of SLP (C) No. 28754 of 2011)
MAHENDRA RAI APPELLANT
VERSUS
UNITED INDIA INS.CO.LTD.& ANR. RESPONDENTS
O R D E R
Leave granted.
This appeal has been preferred by the appellant, owner of the vehicle, against the judgment dated 20th June, 2011 passed by the High Court at Calcutta in F.M.A. No.364 of 2007, titled, Arjun Ray Vs. Mahendra Rai & Anr., whereby the High Court, while setting aside the order of Commissioner for Workmen’s Compensation, West Bengal at Calcutta, has dismissed the said F.M.A. No. 364 of 2007.
The main grievance of the appellant-owner is that the High Court without discussing the merit of the case held as follows and remanded the matter for adjudication:
".......Since we have held that the Insurance Company at the first instance has no liability to meet the award of compensation, we would set aside all the chain of awards that have carved the fortune of these Appeals wherein the Insurance Companies were made liable to pay. ....... In view of the fact that the very maintainability of the orders passed by the Commissioners have been scuttled by us on account of the fact that direction upon Insurance Company to meet the compensation was not correct; automatically, the orders under Appeal would have no force and are required to be set aside after being sent on remand. Necessarily, we will not enter into other ancillary points which have been canvassed at Signature Not Verified the Bar on the question of date of payment of interest, Digitally signed by Rajni Mukhi Date: 2014.07.30 15:03:19 IST liability of meeting the penalty which remains for Reason: adjudication after the matter is sent on remand....."1
It is contended that after giving a finding on merit remand of the case is futile as the observation made by the High Court is binding on the Commissioner under the Workman Compensation Act. It is further contended that the workman has already been paid the compensation by the Insurance Company.
The learned counsel for the Insurance Company submitted that the Commissioner has no jurisdiction under the Act to direct the Insurance Company to pay the compensation; it is the owner who is liable to pay. However, such submission cannot be accepted in view of the fact that the vehicle is insured with the insurance company and that without giving any reason the High Court held that the Insurance Company at the first instance had no liability to meet the award of compensation and doubted the maintainability of the order passed by the Commissioner. We are of the view that after such observations already made the remand of the case will be futile. In fact, we find no error in the order passed by the Commissioner under the Workman Compensation Act, 1923.
For the reasons aforesaid, we set aside the impugned judgment and order dated 20th June, 2011 passed by the High Court at Calcutta in F.M.A. No. 364 of 2007 and upheld the Award.
The appeal stands allowed.
............................J. [SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA] ...............................J. [S.A. BOBDE] NEW DELHI;
JULY 23, 2014
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ITEM NO.6 COURT NO.5 SECTION XV
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
PETITION FOR SPECIAL LEAVE TO APPEAL (C)28754 OF 2011 (Arising out of common impugned final judgment and order dated 20.6.2011 passed by the High Court at Calcutta in F.M.A. No. 364 of 2007) MAHENDRA RAI Appellant(s) VERSUS UNITED INDIA INS.CO.LTD.& ANR. Respondent(s) (Interim Relief and office report) (For final disposal) Date : 23/07/2014 This appeal was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE S.A. BOBDE For Appellant(s) Mrs Sarla Chandra ,Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. A.K. De, Adv.
Mr. Debasis Misra ,Adv.
Mr. Rajesh Dwivedi, Adv.
Mr. Zahid Ali, Adv.
Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal ,Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Leave granted.
The appeal stands allowed in terms of the Signed Order.
[RAJNI MUKHI] [USHA SHARMA]
SR. P.A. COURT MASTER
(Signed Order is placed on the file)
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