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TMI Blog2018 (12) TMI 1367X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Employees' Compensation Commissioner was justified in ignoring the casual connection to the death of the deceased which caused the death during the course of his employment ? d. Whether the Employees' Compensation Commissioner was justified in rejecting the claim petition of the claimants while the death of workman arising out of the accident i.e. employee died in casual connection of his employment. 4. Brief facts of the case are that the claimant No. 1 Om Pal Singh and his wife Smt. Mithlesh filed the claim petition as their son Monendra @ Mohindra @ Mohit, who was the driver of a Tanker bearing registration No. U.P. 15 BT 0491 belongs to M/s. Madhu Transport Company, Indian Petrol Pump, Partapur, in front of J.P. Resorts, Delhi Road, Meerut died on account of an accident and the said Tanker was insured by the National Insurance Company Ltd., Regional Office, Agrawal Building, Begum Bridge Road, Meerut, Branch Office Sotiganj, Meerut. The claimants claimed that on 16.04.2016 the said tanker proceeded to Shahjahanpur from Gurudaspur (Punjab) and reached Shahjahanpur on 18.04.2016. On 19.04.2016, when the deceased Monendra @ Mohindra @ Mohit, son of claimants, was eat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... arties and has arrived at a conclusion that the deceased started his journey from Gurudashpur (Punjab) on 16.04.2016 and arrived at Sahajahanpur on 18.04.2016, has parked the said tanker/truck in the factory and accompanied with another driver went to take his meal at a hotel/Dhaba which is situated outside the factory. The Tribunal further recorded the finding that suddenly the deceased has become unconscious and died at the 'Dhaba'. The Commissioner has also noticed that in the post mortem report, the reason of death is described as cardiogenic shock. However, based on the statement of the claimant no. 1, father of the deceased, who has stated that due to long driving and exertion as well as pollution, the deceased has suffered cardio arrest and died while he was performing his duty. 15. The Commissioner, Employees' Compensation has proceeded to pass the impugned order which is based on the documents which are adduced by the respective parties and has held that claimants are failed to establish that the cause of death was due to an accident. The Commissioner Employees' Compensation has further held that the compensation can only be granted when the employee died ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ted or designed should be construed as falling within the definition of an "accident" and in the event of such "untoward" "unexpected" event resulted in a personal injury caused to the workman in the course of his employment in connection with the trade and business of his employer, the same would be governed by the provisions of Section 3 of the Workmen's Compensation. Such a legal principle evolved from time immemorial got the seal of approval of this Court and for this purpose we can refer to the celebrated decision in Ritta Farnandes (supra). After referring to the decision of House of Lords in Clover Clayton & Co. V. Hughes reported in 1910 A.C. 242 this Court referred to the relevant passage in the decision of House of Lords in paragraph 4, which reads as under: "4. Even if a workman dies from a pre-existing disease, if the disease is aggravated or accelerated under the circumstances which can be said to be accidental, his death results from injury by accident. This was clearly laid down by the House of Lords in Clover Clayton & Co. v. Hughes where the deceased, whilst tightening a nut with a spanner, fell back on his hand and died. A post mortem examination showed that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed as under in paragraph 14: "14. There are a large number of English and American decisions, some of which have been taken note of in ESI Corpn.'s case (supra) in regard to essential ingredients for such finding and the tests attracting the provisions of Section 3 of the Act. The principles are: 1) There must be a casual connection between the injury and the accident and the accident and the work done in the course of employment. 2) The onus is upon the applicant to show that it was the work and the resulting strain which contributed to or aggravated the injury. 3) If the evidence brought on records establishes a greater probability which satisfies a reasonable man that the work contributed to the causing of the personal injury, it would be enough for the workman to succeed, but the same would depend upon the fact of each case." 25. The Madhya Pradesh High Court in Smt. Sundarbai V. The General Manager, Ordnance Factory, Khamaria, Jabalpur reported in 1976 Lab I.C. 1163 in paragraph 10 the principles have been culled out as under: "10. On a review of the authorities, the principles insofar as relevant for our purposes may be stated as follows: (A) Accident ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e zone of special danger the injury would be one which arises 'out of employment'. To put it differently if the accident had occurred on account of a risk which is an incident of the employment, the claim for compensation must succeed, unless of course the workman has exposed himself to an added peril by his own imprudent act. In Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Co. v. Highley, Lord summer laid down the following test for determining whether an accident "arose out of the employment." (Emphasis added) 27. Applying the various principles laid down in the above decisions to the facts of this case, we can validly conclude that there was CAUSAL CONNECTION to the death of the deceased with that of his employment as a truck driver. We cannot lose sight of the fact that a 45 years old driver meets with his unexpected death, may be due to heart failure while driving the vehicle from Delhi to a distant place called Nimiaghat near Jharkhand which is about 1152 kms. away from Delhi, would have definitely undergone grave strain and stress due to such long distance driving. The deceased being a professional heavy vehicle driver when undertakes the job of such driving as his regular a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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