BENGALURU: The cause of action for award of compensation under Workmen Compensation Act arises only when the death has taken place in the course of employment and has arisen from it, ie, when there is a causal connection between the death and employment, the high court has noted.
The observation came while the court was setting aside the compensation of Rs 4,45,420 with 12% interest, awarded by the court of Labour Officer and Commissioner for Workmen’s Compensation, Belagavi.
“The law is well settled that merely because the death took place in the course of employment does not necessarily lead to drawing further inference that it arose from the employment. These two are altogether separate aspects,” Justice P Krishna Bhat observed, while allowing the appeal filed by New India Assurance Company Limited. The judge pointed out that the death of Santosh Shama Vittu Kolekar was on account of respiratory failure due to massive pleural effusion, which had no causal connection with his employment.
Kolekar was aged 19 years and 10 months and was earning Rs 4,000 per month by working as a cleaner of a truck owned by Gajanan Kashinath Mayekar, a businessman from Sawantwadi in Maharashtra. On December 14, 2009, when the truck reached near Madhukol near Belagavi, Kolekar collapsed inside the vehicle. He was shifted to hospital, where the medical officer pronounced him dead.
The family members moved the Labour Officer and Commissioner for Workmen’s Compensation in Belagavi. On April 25, 2013, holding that there was an employee-employer relationship and the death had occurred during the course as well as arisen out of employment, the compensation was awarded.
The insurance company challenged the said award, contending that materials produced before the commissioner would go to show there was no causal connection between the death and employment as the postmortem report indicated the death was due to respiratory failure caused by massive pleural effusion.
