SAMUBEN WD O BHALUBHAI RATHAVA Vs. PATEL INDUSTRIES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The decision rendered by the learned Civil Judge (S D.) at Baroda acting as the Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation on 2 8/12/1984 in Workmen's Compensation Case No. 9 of 1983 is under challenge in this appeal at the instance of the original applicants. Thereby the Trial Forum partly accepted the application of the applicants for compensation and awarded Rs. 4,000.00 to them after deducting Rs. 14,000.00 stated to have been paid to them by the respondents from the total compensation of Rs. 18,000.00 fixed by the Trial Forum.

(2.) The facts giving rise to this appeal are not many and not much in dispute. One Bhalubhai Rathva was stated to be a workman working under the respondents. He is stated to have met with some accident on 19/01/1982 and sustained injuries. Later on he succumbed to his injuries. He was working as a labourer on the daily wage basis and his wage per day was in the sum of Rs. 8.50 ps. His monthly pay was in the sum of Rs. 255. Applicant No. 1 is the widow of the deceased workman and applicants Nos. 2 to 5 were his children and 6 and 7 his parents. They claimed compensation from the respondents for the death of the workman in the course of his employment. The respondents paid no compensation to them as claimed by them. Thereupon they approached the Trial Forum by means of their application claiming compensation in the sum of Rs. 18,000.00 and the penalty in the sum of Rs. 9,000.00. They in all claimed Rs. 27,000.00 from the respondents. Their case came to be registered as Workmen's Compensation Case No. 9 of 1983. The respondents filed their respective replies and resisted the application on various grounds. They inter alia contended that the deceased was not their workman but was only a guest of some workman and he met with his death on account of some accident. According to the respondents, they were not liable to the applicants for death of their predeceasor-in-title as he was not their workman. It was also their case that they paid Rs. 14,000/ - to applicant No. 1 herein by way of compensation for the death of her husband on compassionate and humanitarian grounds. On the aforesaid pleadings of the parties, the necessary points for determination were raised. After recording evidence and hearing the parties, by its judgment and order passed on 28/12/1984 in Workmen's Compensation Case No. 9 of 1983, the Trial Forum accepted the application for compensation in the sum of Rs. 18,000.00 without any penalty. The Trial Forum also came to the conclusion that the respondents paid Rs. 14,000.00 to applicant No. 1 herein towards part compensation and thereupon the respondents herein were ordered to pay the balance amount of compensation in the sum of Rs. 4,000.00 with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of the order till deposit of that amount. This decision aggrieved the appellants to a certain extent. They have therefore invoked the appellate jurisdiction of this Court by means of this appeal under Sec. 30 of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 ('the Act' for brief).

(3.) Shri Mohit Shah for the appellants has invited my attention to Sec. 8 of the Act in support of his submission that the version of payment of Rs. 14,000.00 to appellant No. 1 by or on behalf of the respondents could not have been accepted by the Trial Forum in view of the salutary statutory provision contained therein. According to Shri Mohit Shah for the appellants, even otherwise the evidence regarding payment of Rs. 14,000.00 by or on behalf of the respondents to appellant No. 1 is far from satisfactory and deserves to be rejected. As against this, Shri J. G. Shah for the respondents has urged that the Trial Forum has made no mistake in accepting the payment made to appellant No. 1 in the sum of Rs. 14,000.00 towards the compensation for the death of her husband. Shri J. G. Shah for the respondents has also urged that such payment could have been made in view of Sec. 4A(2) of the Act.