FAO No. 8447 of 2014 (O & M). Case: Executive Engineer/Deputy General Manager, Sub Urban Division DHBVNL and Ors. Vs Priyanka and Ors.. High Court of Punjab (India)
| Case Number | FAO No. 8447 of 2014 (O & M) |
| Counsel | For Appellant: K.S. Malik, Advocate and For Respondents: Sanjay Vashisht, Advocate |
| Judges | Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia, J. |
| Issue | Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) - Section 174; Employee's Compensation Act, 1923 - Sections 12, 12(2), 12(3), 3 |
| Judgement Date | February 01, 2017 |
| Court | High Court of Punjab (India) |
Judgment:
Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia, J.
-
The present judgment shall dispose of three appeals i.e. FAO Nos. 8447 and 8543 of 2014 and FAO No. 6093 of 2015 since the order impugned dated 31.07.2014 is common in the first two appeals passed by the Commissioner under the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923 (in short 'the Act'). Facts are being taken from FAO No. 8447 of 2014, Executive Engineer/Deputy General Manager, Sub Urban Division DHBVNL, Bhiwani and another v. Smt. Priyanka and others.
-
The question of law which is common in all the appeals is "as to whether the principal-employer is liable to pay the amount of compensation when the employee died while working under the supervision and on the premises of the principal employer and his right for indemnification."
-
Vide the impugned order, the principal-employer namely the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (in short 'DHBVN') has been held liable to deposit a sum of ` 7,19,035/- against the compensation amount and interest within 30 days, failing which, it would further be also liable to pay simple interest @ 12% per annum. The Commissioner took into account the fact that the deceased was aged around 26 years and limited his wages at ` 4,000/- and resultantly applied the relevant factor of 215.28 to award ` 4,30,560/- as compensation. The interest was awarded @ 12% per annum from the date of first notice from 31.12.2008 till the date of the order to the tune of ` 2,88,475/-. Reliance was placed upon Section 12 of the Act on the ground that since the accident occurred in or about the premises the principal while undertaking the work and which was otherwise under the control and management of the said principal to hold that the principal employer would be liable to pay to the workman employee engaged in the execution of the work.
-
The case of the claimants, who were the widow of Sunil Kumar and the parents was that respondent No. 4-Naresh Kumar was a contractor working under the Nigam for proper functioning and operation, maintenance of the electric supply system in the area of Dhigawa, District Bhiwani. He had been employed as a lineman for about last 3 years and was working on the operations and getting ` 4,050/- per month as salary. There was a relationship of employee-employer. He was working under the directions from the contractor alongwith other employees and had been asked to climb the electric pole on 27.05.2008 on which a transformer had been mounted for rectifying the fault. In the process of discharging his duties, he got electrocuted and fell down from the pole and he received severe shock and burn injuries due to the electric current and received some injuries due to fall on the ground and was moved to the Government Hospital, Loharu, where he was declared dead. Resultantly, inquest proceedings under Section 174 Cr.P.C. and post mortem was conducted which proved the fact that he had died due to electrocution and resultantly, the claim was filed for ` 15,00,000/- after serving the legal notice.
-
The defence taken by the appellant-Nigam was that the deceased was working under the control and directions of Naresh Kumar, contractor-respondent No. 4 and, therefore, responsibility of discharging of liability was of the said contractor and there was no liability of any kind or any relationship of employer-employee. It was admitted that due to heavy storm on 05.05.2008, many electric poles of the Nigam had broken and the faults were being removed from the labour including the deceased who was working under the control of the...
To continue reading
Request your trial