JABALPUR, India, June 13 -- Madhya Pradesh High Court issued the following judgment/order on May 12:

1. This miscellaneous appeal under Section 30 of the Workman Compensation Act, 1923 has been preferred by the appellant/Insurance Company for setting aside the impugned award dated 25.05.2024 passed by the Commissioner, Labour Court, Jabalpur in Case No.16/2015.

2. The brief facts of the case is that the deceased, Saleem Md. @ Javed, was allegedly employed by Respondent No. 2 as a driver and died in a motor accident during the course of employment in the intervening night of 11/12.03.2011 while travelling from Jabalpur to Katni for dropping passengers. The claimants filed a claim petition seeking compensation of Rs. 8,00,000/-, alleging that the deceased was earning Rs. 8,000/- per month. However, the claim petition was filed on 06.02.2015, nearly four years after the accident. Initially, only Respondent No. 2 was impleaded, and the Appellant-Insurance Company was added as a party only on 24.07.2019. The Appellant Company contested the claim, contending that the vehicle was insured under a package policy and was not registered for commercial use. It was alleged that the vehicle was being used for carrying passengers on hire, which constituted a breach of the policy conditions, thereby absolving the Insurance Company of liability. The Appellant further objected to the maintainability of the claim petition on the ground of limitation and also pointed out that the FIR had been lodged after a delay of about eight months from the date of the accident. After trial, the learned Tribunal awarded compensation of Rs. 5,42,275/- along with interest @ 12% per annum from 30 days after the date of the accident, fastening liability upon the Appellant Company.

3. Learned counsel for the appellant, Shri Shreyas Dubey, submits that the accident in question occurred on 12.03.2011, whereas the appellant/Insurance Company was impleaded as a party only on 24.04.2019. Therefore, the appellant cannot be saddled with liability to pay interest for the period prior to its impleadment. It is further submitted that the Commissioner under the Employees' Compensation Act wrongly imposed interest and penalty from the date of accident despite the fact that the appellant was not a party to the proceedings at the relevant time. Counsel submits that the original ex parte award dated 23.12.2016 passed in Case No.16/2015 was against employer Kishor Nibhani alone and no opportunity of hearing was granted to the appellant. Thereafter, in recovery proceedings, the employer filed an application under Order IX Rule 13 CPC and the Commissioner, by order dated 09.01.2019 passed in Case No.119/2018, set aside the ex parte proceedings subject to deposit of fifty percent of the awarded amount.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://mphc.gov.in/storage/upload/jabalpur/MPHCJB/2024/MA/5866/MA_5866_2024_FinalOrder_12-05-2026_digi.pdf)

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