PARAM DEV Vs. COMMISSIONER UNDER WORKMENS COMPENSATION ACT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PRESENT petitioner Param Dev was working on daily wages as a Driller on muster roll with respondent No. 2. On December 21, 1990 at about 10 in the morning when the workman was working on his driller a boulder rolled down a hillock and hit the head and the neck of the petitioner resulting in causing serious injuries to him. The injured was taken to a nearby Primary Health Centre, Padhar, where he remained admitted for about 4-5 days and thereafter he was referred to District Hospital, Mandi, wherefrom he was further referred to (sic) the PGI, Chandigarh, where he remained under treatment for 2 1/2 months. According to the petitioner, he has become completeiy handicapped due to the said accident which was caused during the course of his employment and now he was not in a position to do any work. The case of the petitioner was reported to the Commissioner under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 (hereinafter to be called as 'the Act') by respondent No. 2, who after recording the evidence made his award on September 7, 1991, to the tune of Rs. 87,890/. This amount was paid to the petitioner in April, 1992.

(2.) IN the present petition, preferred under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has assailed the award made by the Commissioner under the Act on the following grounds :

(3.) ON the basis of the aforesaid grounds it has been prayed in the present petition that the award dated September 7, 1991, made by the Commissioner under the Act, be modified to the extent that the interest and penalty for the belated payment in accordance with the provisions of the Act may also be awarded in favour of the petitioner after calculating the amount of compensation by applying the correct factor in accordance with Schedule IV of the Act.