Telangana High Court
The Depot Manager vs Smt. Dasaraju Indira And 2 Others on 5 July, 2023
THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE M.G.PRIYADARSINI
Civil Miscellaneous Appeal No.380 OF 2014
JUDGMENT:
Aggrieved by the order passed by the Commissioner for Workmen's compensation and Deputy Commissioner of Labour, Karimnagar in W.C. No.22 of 2006, dated 09.02.2011, the opposite party-Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation has filed the present appeal.
2. For the sake of convenience, hereinafter, the parties will be referred as per their array before the Commissioner.
3. The brief facts of the case, are as under.
On 02.01.2006 the deceased-Dasaraju Madhusudan Raju (hereinafter will be referred as 'deceased') was the Conductor in RTC, Manthani Depot and he was allotted duty of 4-00 hours Karimnagar crew change service at Karimnagar. He started from Manthani at 4-15 A.M. on 6.8.1999 and made trips between Manthani and Karimnagar in the afternoon and handed over the bus to others at Karimnagar bus station and made night stay at rest room, Karimnagar. On the next day i.e. 7.8.1999 he had to report for the duty in the afternoon and make trips from Karimnagar to Manthani and to reach Depot at 22-00 hours. While so, he was under rest in the early hours of 7.8.1999, he got 2 chest pain and immediately he was shifted to Government Hospital, Karimnagar by the bus driver. Then he was sent to A.M.C. unit as inpatient at 6-10 A.M. on 7.8.1999 and while undergoing treatment, he died. It is further alleged by the applicants, who are the wife and children of the deceased that due to long hours of duty, the deceased has got stress and strain, due to which, he got heart attack and died during the course of employment. Hence they filed application against the respondent- Corporation seeking compensation.
4. Opposite party-Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation filed counter denying the averments of the application, however, admitted the duty schedule of the deceased and also about his rest from 11-55 A.M. till 12-15 P.M. and also admitted the death of the deceased. It is further denied that due to stress and strain, the deceased got heart attack resulting his death. It is admitted that the salary of the deceased as Rs.3,155/- per month and prays to dismiss the application.
5. Before the Commissioner, the first applicant who is the wife of the deceased was examined as PW.1 apart from examining Dr.R.Vittal Reddy as PW.2 and got marked Exs.A1 to A4. On behalf of respondent-Corporation, RW.1 was examined. However, no documents were marked on their behalf.
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6. The Commissioner after considering the oral and documentary evidence available on record, has awarded the compensation of Rs.2,94,835/- with interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of condonation of delay i.e. 8.6.2006 till the date of passing the order. Aggrieved by the same, the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation has preferred the present appeal.
7. Heard the learned Standing Counsel for the appellant- Corporation and the learned counsel for the respondents- applicants and perused the record.
8. The main contention of the learned Standing Counsel for the appellant-Corporation is that the deceased is a bus Conductor and the deceased got heart attack while he was taking rest and as such, the question of stress and strain during his duty causing heart attack does not arise. Hence prays to allow the appeal by setting aside the Order passed by the learned Commissioner.
9. Per contra, the learned counsel for the applicants argued that the learned Commissioner has considered all the aspects and has awarded the reasonable compensation to the applicants. Hence interference of this Court is not necessary and prayed to dismiss the appeal.
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10. In view of the rival contentions, this Court has perused the evidence available on record. Applicant No.1, who is the wife of deceased was examined as PW.1, has reiterated the contents of the application and categorically deposed about the incident. PW-2 Dr.R.Vittal Reddy deposed that he is a retired Deputy Civil Surgeon and the deceased was admitted in the hospital on 7.8.1999 at 6-10 A.M. in AMC and expired due to 'acute myo-cardiac infraction' i.e., heart attack. During cross-examination, he admitted that he did not give treatment to the deceased, but issued the certificate according to the records. He further stated that clinically, they can diagnose the deceased but only the E.C.G. can confirm a heart attack. He denied the suggestion that the deceased did not die due to heart attack and he has issued a false certificate to help the applicants. PW-2 though cross-examined at length, nothing was elicited to disbelieve his evidence and the cause of death.
11. On the other hand, Sri V.Mallaiah, the then Assistant Manager (Enquiry), Office of the Regional Manager, Karimnagar was examined as RW-1. He stated that for a Conductor job, there may not be any stress and strain in discharging his duties. Hence Corporation is not liable to pay compensation. In the cross- 5 examination he denied the suggestion that the deceased died only due to the heart attack caused due to stress and strain.
12. It is pertinent to state that, admittedly, the deceased has performed his duty since 6.8.1999 at 4-15 A.M. and made trips between Manthani and Karimnagar and died at night time due to heart attack. The main contention of the learned Standing Counsel for the appellant is that the death was not occurred while he was performing the duty. However, it is very clear from the evidence that after attending duty and while taking rest, he got suffered with heart attack. Obviously, there is chance of heart attack caused due to stress and strain, as he has performed duty since 4-15 A.M. On the other hand, the opposite party i.e., Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation though argued that the heart attack was not caused due to stress and strain, however, has not adduced any evidence to prove that the deceased has not suffered any stress and strain and further it is not their case that the deceased was suffering with any other health issues or heart ailments. It is also pertinent to state that no postmortem examination is conducted to state whether it is natural death or death caused other than heart attack. Under these circumstances, it is clearly established that the deceased died due to heart attack, which caused due to stress and strain. Hence, after considering all 6 these aspects, the Tribunal has rightly came to the conclusion that the deceased died due to heart attack which caused due to stress and strain out of and in the course of his employment as Conductor in the opposite party-Corporation.
13. Coming to the compensation, the learned counsel for the appellant-Corporation stated that the applicants themselves stated that the deceased was earning Rs.3,260/- per month towards salary and the respondent-Corporation stated that the deceased is getting Rs.3,155/- per month towards salary. Therefore, the learned Commissioner has rightly taken the salary of the deceased at Rs.3,155/- per month and by applying the relevant factor of '186.90', awarded compensation of Rs.2,94,835/-, which is just and reasonable. Further the learned Commissioner also awarded an amount of Rs.2,000/- towards costs. Therefore, this Court does not find any ground to interfere with the findings of the learned Commissioner. Hence, there are no merits in this Civil Miscellaneous Appeal and it is liable to be dismissed.
14. Accordingly, the Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.
Pending Miscellaneous applications, if any, shall stand closed.
______________________________ JUSTICE M.G.PRIYADARSINI 05.07.2023 PGP