LANCERS NETWORK LTD Vs. RAKHI VARMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of the present appeal filed under Sec. 30 of the Employees' Compensation Act, 1923 (hereinafter, referred to as the 'EC Act') the appellant has assailed the order dtd. 24/7/2018 passed by the learned Commissioner, Employee's Compensation, in Case No.CEC-D/ED/29/2017/3183, vide which the claim petition of the respondent/claimant was allowed and the appellant was directed to deposit death compensation.

(2.) In the claim petition, it was claimed by the respondent that her husband viz. Rakesh Verma (deceased) was employed with the appellant. On account of his employment, he was required to travel outstation and conduct/arrange raids whenever he received any complaint against manufacturing of counterfeit goods. On 29/6/2017, the deceased had gone to Chandigarh for official work and on his way back, when the bus reached ISBT Kashmiri Gate, he fell while de-boarding. He was rushed to LNJP Hospital, where he expired during treatment on 3/7/2017. In the death summary, the cause of death was opined as sub arachnoid hemorrhage with intraparchchymal hemorrhage, which in absence of trauma is spontaneous in nature. It was further claimed that the deceased was aged about 44 years at the time of the incident and was last drawing salary of Rs.30,000.00 per month. Reportedly, he was undergoing mental stress, even on the day of the incident, on account of the appellant denying incentive and travel allowance to him.

(3.) Learned counsel for the appellant contended that the death of the deceased having been spontaneous is not related to his employment and thus no compensation ought to have been awarded by the learned Commissioner. It was next contended that though the respondent had claimed of receiving a phone call from the deceased on 29/6/2017 in which the deceased had told her about the stress he was undergoing, the phone call was not proved on the record. In support of his contentions, learned counsel placed reliance on the decisions in Shakuntala Chandrakant Shreshti v. Prabhakar Maruti Garvali and Another reported as (2007) 11 SCC 668 and Dredging Corporation of India Limited v. P.K. Bhattacherjee reported as (2013) 10 SCC 224. In the alternative, it was submitted that while awarding the compensation, the learned Commissioner failed to take note of the ex-gratia payment of Rs.2,84,690.00, which was made to the respondent (wife of the deceased) vide receipt dtd. 11/8/2017.