JUDGMENT :

Kamlesh Sharma, J.

1. These three appeals, F.A.O. (WCA) Nos. 106 and 107 of 1993 and 337 of 1995 are being disposed of by a common judgment as the same question of law is involved in all of them. The question of law is:

Whether the insurance company is liable to indemnify the insured for the penalty and interest awarded against him under Sub-section (3) of Section 4-A of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 (hereinafter called 'the Act')?

2. In F.A.O. (WCA) No. 106 of 1993 the claimants-respondents are parents of the deceased Shafiq Mohammad, who was employed as driver on Swaraj Mazda truck No. HPS 7486 owned by respondent No. 3, Pradeep Kumar. The said truck met with an accident in the early hours on 6.12.1989 at a place called Uli, near Sunni, Tehsil Sunni, District Shimla, when it was transporting bricks from Chandigarh to Sunni, in which Shafiq Mohammad driver and one labourer Prem Lal died. In F.A.O. (WCA) No. 107 of 1993 parents of the deceased Prem Lal are the respondents-claimants. On the evidence on record the Commissioner under the Workmen's Compensation Act, has granted Rs. 88,548/- as compensation with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from the date of