MUNSHI AND COMPANY Vs. YESHWANT TUKARAM TELI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by an employer against the award of compensation to one of his workmen in respect of an injury suffered in warehouse in Prince's Dock at the time of the Bombay Explosion of April 14, 1944. The facts are not in dispute. The workman was employed in a godown. As the result of the explosion the wall suddenly collapsed, and a hot plate of metal got into what was left of the godown and hit the workman's leg. As a result of this injury his leg was amputated. His disability was assessed at 60 per cent., and he was awarded altogether Rs. 1,512 by way of compensation and an additional Rs. 4 for court-fee charges.

(2.) It is to be noted that after the explosion the Government of India set up a Claims Commission and the applicant appeared before the Claims Commission. He was awarded by them Rs. 2,280 in respect of his injury, but that sum was made subject to a deduction of the amount awarded to him in the proceedings under the Workmen's Compensation Act. The fact of the Claims Commission being in existence is important in this case, because it is the justification put forward by the applicant for having appeared before the Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation more than twelve months after the date of the accident.

(3.) The principal grounds of this appeal are (1) that the claim having been made twelve months after the date of the accident was beyond time and should have been treated as such, and (2) that the accident, though it arose in the course of the applicant's employment, did not arise "out of" his employment within the meaning of the Act. The explosion took place on April 14, 1944, and the claim to the Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation should have been made within a year of that date; actually it was not made till April 26, 1945. The applicant however stated in his application (which he incidentally verified on oath) that he had been under the impression that he would receive all his compensation from the Court of the Claims Commissioner, but that he was afterwards given to understand that he was entitled to receive compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act in the first instance and then would receive additional compensation from the Claims Commissioner. This explanation was accepted by the learned Commissioner, and in his discretion he treated the application as being within time. Section 10 of the Act gives him such a discretion.