News Citation : 2026 LN (HC) 144 | 2026:CGHC:4540
January 27, 2026 : The High Court of Chhattisgarh has dismissed an appeal filed under the Employees’ Compensation Act after the appellant failed to deposit the compensation amount as required by law, holding that compliance with the statutory pre-condition is mandatory for maintaining such an appeal.
In MAC No. 692 of 2017, the case of Girdhari Sahu vs Phuleshwari Bai and Others, Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad ruled that the appeal could not be entertained because the appellant did not deposit the full compensation awarded by the Labour Court, nor did he submit the required certificate from the Commissioner confirming the deposit.
The court noted that Section 30 of the Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923 clearly states that no appeal by an employer shall lie unless the memorandum of appeal is accompanied by a certificate from the Commissioner certifying that the awarded amount has been deposited. This requirement, the court said, is not a technical formality but a condition that goes to the root of the appeal’s maintainability.
Earlier, the appellant had filed an interlocutory application seeking exemption from filing the deposit receipt. That request was rejected on May 6, 2023, with the court making it clear that depositing the entire awarded amount is a condition precedent for entertaining the appeal. Despite the passage of time, the appellant neither deposited the amount nor produced the required certificate.
The High Court relied on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Newtech Promoters and Developers Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Uttar Pradesh, where the top court upheld the validity of statutory pre-deposit requirements in appeals and clarified that such conditions cannot be treated as optional. The right to appeal, the Supreme Court had observed, is subject to the conditions laid down in the statute itself.
The court also referred to the decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Komal Chourasiya v. Ramkali Ahirwar, which reiterated that filing a certificate confirming deposit of the entire awarded amount is a substantive requirement and not a curable procedural defect.
Applying these principles, the Chhattisgarh High Court concluded that non-compliance with the pre-deposit requirement rendered the appeal incompetent from the outset. As the appellant failed to meet the mandatory statutory condition, the court dismissed the appeal as not maintainable.
Case Reference : MAC No. 692 of 2017, Girdhari Sahu vs Phuleshwari Bai and Others : For Appellant: Mr. J. K. Gupta, Advocate; For Respondents: None.
