Point of Law: Section 4 of Act deals with ‘Amount of Compensation’.

JUDGMENT :

The appellant was the applicant in ECC No.1198/2016 before the Court of Employees Compensation Commissioner (Industrial Tribunal), Thrissur. The application was filed claiming a lumpsum compensation towards the functional disability sustained by him in an accident arising and in the course of his employment under the first opposite party.

2. The applicant was employed as a driver by the first opposite party in his vehicle bearing registration No. KL 41/6270. On 18.09.2011, at about 1 p.m., when the vehicle was towed with the help of another vehicle for repair and when the vehicle reached Elavoor Kavala near Karukutty, Angamaly, he got down from the vehicle and went to the rear side of the pulling vehicle in order to unloose the rope. While doing so, the hand brake of the vehicle got slipped, and the vehicle hit the applicant from behind. He got jammed in between the two vehicles and sustained serious injuries. He was taken immediately to the Mar Augustine Golden Jubilee Hospital, Mookkannur, and thereafter to the Medical Trust Hospital, where he was admitted as an inpatient and treated. He claimed a compensation of Rs. 3,00,000/- from the opposite parties.

3. The Commissioner, after evaluation of the oral evidence of AW1 to AW3, Exts.A1 to A10, Ext.R1 on the side of the second opposite party and also XI Medical Board Report, awarded a compensation of Rs.50,084/- towards medical reimbursement. The second opposite party was directed to produce an account payee cheque drawn in favour of the applicant within a period of 60 days.

4. The appeal is filed by the applicant aggrieved by the non-disbursement of the interest under the Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923 (for short, ‘the Act’).

5. Section 4 of the Act deals with ‘Amount of Compensation’. Sub-section 2A of Section 4 reads as follows:

“(2A) The employee shall be reimbursed the actual medical expenditure incurred by him for treatment of injuries caused during the course of employment.”

6. The Commissioner, on evaluation of the evidence adduced, more particularly on XI-Medical Board Report, found that the applicant has not sustained any occupational disability, and therefore, compensation cannot be awarded for the injuries sustained by him. But taking into consideration Ext.A2 series of medical bills, the applicant was awarded Rs.50,084/- towards medical reimbursement.

7. As mentioned earlier, Section 4 of the Act includes medical reimbursement also. Section 4A of the Act deals with ‘Compensation to be paid when due and penalty for the default’. Sub-section (3) of Section 4A states that where any employer is in default in paying the compensation due under this Act within one month from the date it fell due, the Commissioner shall-

(a) direct that the employer shall, in addition to the amount of arrears, pay simple interest thereon at the rate of twelve per cent per annum or at such higher rate not exceeding the maximum of the lending rates of any scheduled bank as may be specified by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette, on the amount due.

8. According to the counsel for the appellant, when the Commissioner quantified the amount as Rs.50,084/- towards medical reimbursement, and the accident happened on 18.09.2011, the amount ought to have been awarded simple interest at the rate of 12% from was default on the part of reimbursing the amount spent by the date of accident as there the opposite parties in not him.

9. He relies on the judgment of this Court in Gineesh M.G and Anr. v. K.C Ninan and Ors. reported in (2020 KHC 139) and contends that the amount quantified by the Commissioner as reimbursement should include interest under Section 4A at 12%. Reliance is also placed on the judgment in Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd v. Siby George and Ors. reported in (2012 KHC 4408) for the proposition that compensation becomes due from the date personal injury is caused to workman and not from the date of Commissioner’s order determining compensation or from the date