COMMISSIONER FOR WORKMENS COMPENSATION Vs. P V MOHANAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation, Kottayam, has referred the following question of law for the decision of this Court under Section 27 of the Workmen's Compensation Act: Whether the compensation amount deposited with the Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation becomes the property of the sole dependent of the deceased workman in case nobody opposes to that, and further, if that sole dependant dies prior to the allotment of that compensation whether the said amount devolves to his or her heirs?

(2.) GOPALAN, a workman, died on 22nd February 1986 by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment in a tea estate. The employer accepted the liability for compensation and deposited the compensation amount of Rs. 21,000 with the Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation. He also submitted a statement in Form A showing that Thankamma, the widow, was the sole dependant of the deceased workman. Before the amount could be paid to her, she died on 20th November 1986. In January 1987, Mohanan, a son of the deceased, Thankamma, claimed the amount on the strength of a succession certificate issued by the Administrator General in respect of the estate of Thankamma. Objections to the claim were invited by necessary publication. There was no objection from any quarter. But the Commissioner entertained some doubts as to whether the amount could be disbursed to the heir of the dependant of the deceased workman. The deceased workman had only one heir, his widow, dependent on him when he died. That sole dependent was entitled to the compensation amount. If the amount due to that dependent cannot be disbursed to the heirs, on her death, the amount naturally will have to be returned to the employer. A jurisdictional issue of the Commissioner to order payment in such cases arises for determination. The question of law formulated by the Commissioner was, therefore, referred to this Court under Section 27 of the Act.

(3.) SECTION 3 of the Act imposes a statutory liability on the employer to pay compensation in accordance with the provisions of the Act, to workmen who suffer personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of employment. The amount of compensation is also fixed under the Act and Section 4a insists that "compensation under Section 4 shall be paid as soon as it falls due". Where the injury results in death, the compensation payable under the Act to the dependants of the deceased workman cannot be paid direct to them by the employer; the amount has to be deposited with the Commissioner. The Commissioner, after due notice and conducting the necessary enquiries, can direct apportionment of the amount payable among the dependents of the deceased workman or any of them in such proportion as the Commissioner thinks fit or may, in his discretion, be allotted to any one of the dependants.