JUDGMENT :

Alam, Lodha, JJ.

Heard counsel for Appellants and Mr. Harish Chander, senior counsel appearing for the Union of India.

2. This appeal raises a very limited issue as to the day from which interest would accrue on the amount of compensation u/s 124-A of the Railways Act, 1989. The Tribunal directed that the compensation amount would carry interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum from 25.5.1995, i.e., the date of the application till its payment to the claimant. On appeal, the High Court modified the Tribunal's order and directed that interest would commence not from the date of the application but from the date of the judgment of the Tribunal, which was passed on 2.12.2002.

3. Counsel appearing for the Appellants submitted that in Tahazhathe Purayil Sarabi and Others Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Another, (2009) 7 SCC 372 under similar circumstances, this Court held that the interest would accrue on the compensation amount from the date of the claim application. Learned Counsel particularly relied upon paras 23 and 24 of the judgment.

4. We find that the point is well taken and it is supported by the decision of this Court in Tahazhathe Purayil Sarabi and Others Vs. Union of