ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. HARI PRASAD KAMKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment shall decide the present appeal filed by the appellant/Insurance Company under Sec. 30 of the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923 [EC Act] assailing the impugned order dtd. 31/7/2019 passed by Employee's Compensation Commissioner [Commissioner] in case No. CEC/WD/D146/16 titled as 'Hari Prasad Kamkar and Ors. v. Deepak Brara and Ors.', whereby the claim for compensation filed by the claimants/respondent Nos. 1 to 3 for death of one Dhan Bihari was allowed.

(2.) Briefly stating, the victim/deceased Dhan Bihari was son of respondent No.1 and brother of respondent Nos. 2 and 3. It was the case of the claimants that the deceased was employed as a cleaner with respondent No.2 (respondent No.4 in the present appeal) [Registered owner of the truck], who was the owner of truck bearing No. HR55J-0747, who left from Calcutta for Delhi on a commercial trip; and that in the intervening night of 13th and 14/9/2016 the truck reached Thandi Poyau Chowki under jurisdiction of P.S. Kotwali Kehat, Distt. Bulandshar, Uttar Pradesh, where all of sudden a Nilgai came infront of the moving truck and in order to save it, the truck driver lost balance and control as a result of which the truck turned upside down and the deceased received multiple grievous injuries all over his body. He was rushed to Civil Hospital Bulandshar and later referred to Lok Nayak Hospital, Delhi, where he eventually succumbed to his injuries on 21/9/2016.

(3.) The claimants submitted that the deceased died during the course of his employment with the registered owner, and therefore, they sought compensation under the EC Act. The appellant, being the insurer of the truck and the registered owner, disputed the assertion of the claimants that the deceased was working as a cleaner and died during the course of his employment.