ORIENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY Vs. JEVARAMMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal preferred by the Oriental Insurance Company Limited, Mysore, against the award made by the Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation, Mysore District, Mysore, in W C.A. CR-2/86-87 dated 13th July, 1987 awarding a compensation of Rs. 44,200-80 paise on account of the death of the husband of the claimant and a penalty amounting to 50% of the aforesaid compensation together with interest at the rate of 6% per annum on the compensation awarded and cost of Rs. 50/-.

(2.) Learned Counsel for the Insurance Company submitted that the provisions of Section 95 (1)(b) and Section 95(2)(a) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (hereinafter referred to as the M. V. Act) are applicable to the facts of the case and that there is no liability on the part of the Insurance Company to pay any compensation to the claimant in the facts and circumstances of the case. We have examined these provisions and we find that they are not attracted to the facts of this case because of the reason that the accident took-place not when the vehicle was in motion but purely in the circumstance that the deceased was trying to remove the timber from the stationery lorry and it was in the course of employment that the accident took-place thus attracting the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 and not the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939.

(3.) We are of the opinion that the provisions of Section 12 of the Workmen's Compensation Act are applicable and that the Insurance Company is liable to pay compensation to the claimant. Sec. 12(1) reads as follows : Where any person (hereinafter in this Section referred to as the principal) in the course of or for the purposes of his trade or business contracts with any other person (hereinafter in this section referred to as the contractor) for the execution by or under the contractor of the whole or any part of any work which is ordinarily part of the trade or business of the principal, the principal shall be liable to pay to any workmen employed in the execution of the work any compensation which he would have been liable to pay if that workman had been immediately employed by him; and where compensation is claimed from the principal, this Act shall apply as if references to the principal were substituted for references to the employer except that the amount of compensation shall be calculated with reference to the wages of the workman under the employer by whom he is immediately employed."