Madras HC directs Insurance Company to Deposit entire Award Sum without applying TDS till further orders of Larger Bench
Madras HC directs Insurance Company to Deposit entire Award Sum without applying TDS till further orders of Larger Bench
May 17, 2020 7:35 pm| By : Mariya Paliwala
The High Court of Madras directed the Registry to place this matter before the Hon’ble Chief Justice for considering the issues for resolution by a larger bench. Meanwhile, the insurance company was directed to deposit the entire award sum of Rs. 10,46,200/- with interest at 9% per annum with a cost of Rs. 27,332/- and without applying any Tax Deduction at Source (TDS).
The Claimant, Mr. M. Ashok Kumar suffered grievous injury and was assessed disablement by Medical Board vide orders of this Court made in Tata AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Prabhu dated 12-04-2016, including medical expenses of Rs.3,54,000/-. A simple nudge was sufficient to the Counsel for Insurance Company to surrender the appeal to the larger cause of the community of victims in these pandemic times.
The claimant thoughtfully brought to the notice of the court that Act 32 of 2019 which has introduced the replacement of Chapter XI of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Under the new dispensation, Parliament has introduced changes for the benefit of accident victims to protect them during the “Golden Hour”, immediately after the accident and also to protect the interest of the victims in respect of “Hit and Run Accidents” or those involving uninsured vehicles. If a meaningful corpus is available with the Income Tax Department, as an unrefunded TDS, it could come for proper use under this new dispensation.
Further, it was also contended that TDS is in the application in millions of motor accident cases. Huge sums may have accumulated in the coffers of the Income Tax Department. Not all victims may have sought and/ or obtain refunds. Many victims may belong to such strata of society that they may not be in a position to pursue a refund.
The single-judge bench of Justice N. Anand Venkatesh deemed it fit to leave it to the larger bench to allude to this issue also and examine the possibility of proper utilization of the unrefunded amounts for the benefit of motor accident victims.
“The Income Tax Department could be asked to provide statistics relating to the TDS amounts, refunds sought and pending, refunds ordered and no refunds sought for at all, and the period for the same, for this purpose,” the court observed.
Meanwhile, the court directed the insurance company to deposit the entire award sum of Rs. 10,46,200/- with interest at 9% per annum with a cost of Rs. 27,332/- and without applying any Tax Deduction at Source (TDS), till further orders of the larger bench come.
![https://x.com/sekarreporter1/status/1730435401209532846?t=W6t1o-UuUs7dvSJ9cvXHeQ&s=08 For appellants : Mr.Haza Nazirudeen Additional Advocate General assisted by Mr.M.Venkateswaran Special Government Pleader For respondent : Mr.V.Prakash Senior Advocate for Mr.K.Sudalai Kannu Tax case full order. 13.Insofar as the laches is concerned, it is settled law that when there is considerable delay on the part of the aggrieved party to approach the court and when such delay has created a vested and indefeasible right in favour of another person by lapse of time, the discretion under Article 226 of the Constitution, ought not to be entertained. It is not in dispute that the respondent/writ petitioner has been submitting various representations and communications demanding revision of seniority. However, it is only in 2019, the request has been rejected and immediately the writ petition has been filed. It is also beyond any doubt that the respondent/writ petitioner was originally placed above the 3rd appellant on the date of appointment and when the permanent list was prepared in 2012, the respondent/ writ petitioner was fully qualified. In this case, we have already held that the temporary promotion will not confer any right and therefore, no vested right can accrue to the 3rd appellant. The respondent/writ petitioner has been continuously agitating her cause with the official respondents for refixation of seniority, which ultimately culminated into the impugned order, that was subject matter of the writ petition. Therefore, in the mind of this court, in the facts and circumstances of the case, the claim of the respondent / writ petitioner is not hit by laches. It is also relevant to point out at this juncture that the plea of laches was not taken before the Learned Judge and has been raised only in the appeal. In view of the findings rendered above, we are not inclined to entertain this plea at this stage. 14.In fine, the writ appeal deserves to be dismissed and is accordingly, dismissed. No costs. Connected miscellaneous petition is closed. [R.M.D, J.] [M.S.Q, J.] 06.06.2023 r n s Speaking Order / Non-speaking order Internet : Yes. Index : Yes /No To 1.The Secretary, Commercial Taxes and Registration Department, The Secretariat, Fort St. George, Chennai – 600 009. 2.The Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Ezhilagam, Chepauk, Chennai – 5. R. MAHADEVAN, J. and MOHAMMED SHAFFIQ, J. r n s W.A.No.1587 of 2022 & C.M.P.No.10537 of 2022 06.06.2023](https://sekarreporter.com/wp-content/themes/hueman/assets/front/img/thumb-medium-empty.png)
