The single judge bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court held that it is visualizable that the drivers would be called upon to do overnight shifts to cater to the demands of the passengers, who engaged them. This among other aspects of the job of a driver are the causes for the stress and strain and the death of the deceased, ought to be treated as an accident for the purposes of compensation under the Employees Compensation Act.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that the claimants are the dependents of the deceased. The deceased used to work as a tourist cab driver under O.P no. 1. One Mosuri Sathi Babu and two others engaged the car to go to Bagulavada Village and as per the instructions of opp party no.1, the deceased Shaik Yasin drove them from Kotturu to Bagulavada Vilage. Then, they went to complete their work and when they returned, they noticed the deceased underneath the back seat of the car. They immediately reported the matter to the police station. Thereafter, the claimant claimed that the death occurred during the course of employment and they are entitled to compensation under the Act. The commissioner allowed the claim for R.3,07,202/-. Therefore, the present appeal is filed.
Contentions of the Appellant
The Appellant submitted that the death did not occur because of an accident it was a natural death. Hence, the insurance company can’t be made liable to pay the compensation.
Contentions of the Respondent
The Respondent submitted that the insurance company still be made liable to pay compensation even if the death occurred was a natural one. As the same is on the account of stress and strain caused by the job, the same has to be construed as an accident for the purpose of compensation under the Act.
Observations of the court
The Hon’ble court observed that even if the deceased's death was natural, it is clear that the job's stress and strain taking tourists throughout the State were the cause of it. It is conceivable that in order to satisfy the expectations of the passengers who hired them, the drivers would occasionally be required to work midnight shifts. After considering other aspects of the job of a driver are the causes for the stress and strain and the death of the deceased, ought to be treated as an accident for the purposes of compensation under the Employees Compensation Act.
The court relied upon the judgment of the apex court titled Jyothi Ademma v. Plant Engineer, Nellore & Another in which the court held that if the employment is the contributory cause or has accelerated the death or if the death was due not only to the disease but also disease coupled with employment, then the death could be said to be in the course of employment. Furthermore, the reliance was put upon the judgments titled Depot Manager, APSRTC, Karimnagar v. Gurrapu Anjamma, and Param Pal Singh v. National Insurance Co. Ltd and another.
Based on these considerations, the court refused to interfere with the award passed by the commissioner.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court dismissed the appeal.
Case title: The United India Insurance Company Ltd., Visakhapatnam V. Akthara Unnisha Begum Visakhapatnam Dist 5 Others and Others
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Nyapathy Vijay
Case No.: CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL NO: 380/2011
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