LADI JAGANNADHAM Vs. PADMABATI BAURANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Employer is the appellant, in this Misc. Appeal, from an order of the Commissioner, Workmen's Compensation, Koraput, dated September 15, 1958 allowing compensation to the widow of the workman (respondent herein) under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 (Act VIII of 1923) of a sum of Rs.2,400.00 under the said Act.

(2.) THE claim of the respondent, - who is the widow of the alleged workman, arose thus; while her husband, on January 27, 1954 was piling up paddy bags as a Khalasi in the Trinath Rice Mill, Gunupur, in the district of Koraput, one bag is alleged to have fallen over him, as a result of which he died, on the same day. THE claimant's case is that her husband was earning Rs.27- to Rs.3/- per day. THE deceased workman is stated to be aged about 35 years at the time of his death. THE deceased workman's widow claimed lump sum of Rs.2,400/- on the basis of remuneration that the husband was earning from his employment at the rice mill. THE defence to the claim, - as stated by the employer, which is Trinath Rice Mill, of whom the appellant Ladi Jagannadham is a partner,- is that the deceased was not a workman of the employer; that the Government had employed agents and sub-agents for procuring paddy; these agents are stated to have stored paddy in the Rice Mill for the purpose of being converted into rice; if at all, the workman was an employee of the agent or sub-agent and not of the Rice Mill; that the accident did not take place during the course of employment; that as a matter of fact the deceased Khalasi died not on account of the accident, but due to overdrinking and alcohol poisoning as, - according to the employer, - is shown by the doctor's certificate and the chemical examiner's report; that in short, death was not due to fall of bag but due to alcohol poisoning and that there was no external injury on the body of the deceased.