The single judge bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court held that the death by a heart attack while driving a lorry during the course of employment is covered under the Employees Compensation Act,1923.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that the deceased worked as a lorry driver under Respondent no. 5. The deceased along with the cleaner started the journey from Nagpur to Hyderabad on 28.08.2005 with a load of iron channels and in the course of their journey, the cleaner was informed by the deceased that he was having chest pain and entrusted the lorry to the driver. Thereafter, the cleaner noticed that he died due to a heart attack. Furthermore, the compensation was filed by the wife and her two children and mother. The commissioner passed an award granting compensation of Rs.2,66,976/-. Aggrieved by this, the present appeal is filed.
Observations of the Court
The Hon’ble Court observed that it could be said that a death occurred in the course of employment if the employment contributed to the death, accelerated it, or resulted from a sickness that was both related to and caused by the employment.
The court relied upon the judgments titled Depot Manager, APSRTC, Karimnagar v. Gurrapu Anjamma, Jyothi Ademma v. Plant Engineer, Nellore & Another, and Param Pal Singh v. National Insurance Co. Ltd and another.
The court furthermore observed that in the instant case, death by heart attack occurred in the course of driving the lorry from Nagpur to Hyderabad is a clear indication of the death having been caused due to employment-induced stress and there can be no two ways about it.
Based on these considerations, the court was of the view that no substantial questions of law are made out by the appellant.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court dismissed the appeal.
Case title: The Oriental Insurance Company Limited V. Smt Chukkala Eshwari and Others
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Nyapathy Vijay
Case No.: CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL NO: 33/2024
Advocate for the Petitioner: Smt. A.Jayanti
Advocate for the Respondent: Sri Ravi Kumar Tolety
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