The High Court · 2025

Judgment

3. Y Parvathi, Wo Late Prabhakar, aged 36 yrs, Occupation Housewife, Y Sai Kumar, S/o Late Prabhakar, aged 17 yrs, Occupation Nil, Y Bharathi Kumar, S/o Late Prabhakar, aged 13 yrs, Occupation Nil,

Respondents 2 and 3 being minors are represented by their mother and natural guardian Respondent No 1 Smt.Y.Parvathi. Respondents 1 to 3 are residing at H.No 12 '10 2/C, Alwal, Hyderabad, 4 P Krishna Murthy, S/o Obanna, Occupation Lorry Owner, r/o H.No.3-3216, Kothapeta, Bethamcherla, Kurnool District ... Respondents/Applicants RespondenUl't Opposite Party l.A- NO: 2OF 2014(CMAMP. NO: 1302 OF 2014) Petition under Section 151 of CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to grant stay of operation of the decree and order in WC.No,6 of 2013 on the file of the court of the Commissioner for Employees' Compensation and Assistant Commissioner of Labour-l at Hyderabad dt 17lOGl2O14 pending disposal of the main CMA. Counsel for the Appellant: SRI N J SUNIL KUMAR Counsel for the Respondents: SRI AJAY KUMAR MADIS ETTY The Court made the following: JUDGMENT THE HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR JUKANTI CTVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL No.82O OF 2014 JUDGMENT: Aggrieved by order, dated 17.O6.2014, in W.C.No'6 of 2013 passed by the Commissioner for Employees' Compensation and Assistant Commissioner of Labour I: T.Anjaiah Karmika Samkshema Bhavanam, RTC Cross Roads, Hyderabad, the present Civil Misceilaneous Appeal is filed.

2. Heard Mr. N. J. Sunil Kumar, learned counsel for appetlant alC Mr. Ajay Kr-rrnar Madisetty, learrrecl counsel for lcspondents J The applicants are wife and children of deceasecl- The deccased (iate Prabhakar) was a driver of lorry bearing No.AP 2 lX 0648 trnder the employment of I "r opposite party. On 03.05.2009, deceased went to Mumbaj from Bethamcherla with load of stones in the lorry, after unloading, he was returning to Nandyala rvith load of pou,der. On O8.05.20Oo at ahout 3:O0 am deceased JAK. J 2 stopped the lorry near Kurnool for attendirr After attending natural call, while deceas,: i natural call. I was getting into the Iorry, his leg slipped, fell on the grot nd, sustained injuries and died on the spot. A case in C- me No.242 of 2OO9 calrte to be registered in the t clice Station of Krunool-lV Town. Lorry rvas having an ir,lr urance policy bearing No.433 tOO l3I /2OO9 /441O valid, fr<r: to 18.O2.2O1O. Deceased suffered injur postmortem lvas conducted at Governn ct 19.O2.2OO9 / on head, ent General Hospital, Kurnool. Deceased had a valid c r iving license. Applicants clarmed that deceased was rece i, ing wages of Rs.7,500/ per month. AWI (for applicants), F W1 and RW2 (for opposite party No.2) u,ere examined, Exs. \1 to A7 and Exs.BI to 83 u,ere marked. Commissioner, cc asidering the entire factuai matrr_x ol case, awarded corr pensation of Rs.3,70,576/- u,ith interest @ l2Vo per 09.06.2OO9 till the date of realization. mnum from

4. Challenging the said order, appellir, rt/insurance company filed the present appeal. JAK, J Cnl A No E20 2011 3

5. Learned counsel for appellant/lnsurance Company submitted that the death of the deceased was natural and the Doctor/RW1 after receiving the reports stated that the driver died due to coronary heart disease with subarachnoid hemorrhage. It is further submitted that the death of the driver did not occur during the course of employment. It is also submitted that the death of the deceased is due to coronary heart disease which is not a scheduled injury and payment of interest @ 12% is also improper nhen there is tlo accident to the vehicle and the injuries suffered by the deceased is due to an incident of slioping and falling clc'vn. Therefore, the Insurance Company cannot be mulcted to pay the compensation' 6 " karned counsel for respondents submitted that deceased died due to the stress and strain during the course of employment. That on 03.05'2009, the deceased went to Mumbai and while returning on 08'05'2009' near Kurnool outskirts, the incident occurred' It is further submitted that on 08.05.2009, at 3:0O a'm', when the deceased was getting into catrin a-fter attending natural c.M.A t1o.620 )0t1 4 call, he slipped and fell on the ground and ruffered injury to head. That he was taken to Kurnool Medl< al College arld postmortem was conducted. It is also sut mitted that a contusion of 6 x 3 cms., was present or:r left parital eminence, patch subarachnoid hemorrhage las noted over frontal lobes of brain. 7 . Learned counsel submitted that i. L the cross examrnation of RW 1, he dcposed that or: the basis of Exs.B I and P.2, opinion \rras given the t because of hypertension or application of any blu : t force, the hemorrhage is possible and that every poril ibility of the deceased sustaining heart attack or receivin5; to stress and strain caused due to the driv such an inciclent is an accident in terms of tl- Compensation Act_ It is further submit,, Commissioner rightll, held that the decease,l stress arrd strain and it rvas during tlL stroke is due ng and that s Workmen's d that the died due to : course of employmenL.

8. Learned counse[ invited attention of 1] is Court to various judgments of the Hon,ble Apex Cou- referred in JAK. J C M.ANo 320 2011 ) the Order cf Commissioner to buttress the contention that death of the deceased v/as during the course of employment. LeameC counsel further submitted that Commissioner erred in not taking the monthly wages of the deceasecl at Rs.7,500/-. Except for the contention on wages, learned counsei supported the order of Comm issioner and stated that no interference is necessitated.

9. Heard learned counsels, perused the record and considered rival subrnisstons.

10. Deceased was a d;-iver of lorry bearing No' AP 21X O648. On 03.05.2009, the deceased drove the vehicle to Mumbai irom Bethamcherla with a load of stones, he unioaded stones at Mumbai and rvas returning to Nandyala rvith load of pou,der. On 08.05 2009, in the early hours at 3:00 a.m., he stopped the vehicle to attend nature call' After attendireg nature call, when he was trying to get into the cabin, he slipped, te1l on the ground, sustained injury to head and died on spot. 6 1 1 . As per the postmortem examinatior , there was a contusion of 6 x 3 cms., present over left pet ital eminence, patch subarachnoid hemorrhage noted over I -ontal lobes of brain. An Associate Professor, Departmc:r - of Forensic Medicine, Kurnool Medica_l College, was exa.l ined as RWl. He deposed that death was due to heart I cross examination he depcsed that tack. In his because of hypertension or application of any blu r t force this hemorrhage is possible. He further deposcrl that there is every possibility of heart attack caused dur to stress and strain of the deceased rn hile driving the vehicle. The Commissioner considered th9 deposi ti<r r of RWl. The contention of normal/natural death is bi lied upon the deposition of RW 1 .

12. Ex.A4 is the driving license of the decez sed, Ex.AS is the registration of the lorrv, in the name o 1 st opposite parby, Ex.A6 is the copy of insuramce polici valid at the time of accident. Copies of iorry permits are I so placed on record. Applicants stated that the deceascd vas receiving monthly wage of Rs.7,500/-,_but, no documen ary evidence IAK,J C il.A.No EZA 2011 7 is placed on record. Comrnissioner applied Minimum Rates of Wages fixed by Government of Andhra Pradesh in employrnent of Public i\{otpr Transport and det-ermined monthly wage of the deceasecl to be Rs.5, 159 /- pet month' Age of the deceased/drivcr rvas taken as per the date of birth recorded in the driving. license. 13, The death of the driver is during the course of employment, applicants are entitled to receive the compensation. Cause of he:rrt attack is related to stress and strain of driving tl-re lorry cotrtinuously' This Court does not find any infirrrriti' in che lindings of Commissioner' It is helci in a catena of j udgments of the Hon'b1e Apex Court thaL driving continuously does create stress and strain leading to such irrcide nts and such incidents the meaning of the Workmen's amount to accident "vithin Compensation Act and such accidents are to be considered in the course of emPloYment.

14. Commissioner corrsidereci the judgment of Hon'ble Narain Singh Deo a' Apex Court in the case of -Pratap JSK,J 8 Srininas Sa,ba,ta and anothel and has r ghtly awarded interest @ l2o/o per annum.

15. The Hon'ble Apex Court, while de: ing with the scheme of the Workmen,s Compensation Act in GoIIa Rajannq. and. Others a- Diuislonal l.anager and Another2, held as follows: "1O. Under the scheme of the Act, thc \V Compensation Commissioner is the last authorir ,. The Parliament has thought it fit to restrict the s(j( appeal only-to subslanlia: questions ol larr. bcrrr:, legislation. Unfortunatel;., the lligh Courr has .,'r crucial question of limired 3urisdiclion and has r. . re-appreciate the evidence and recorded its oti n f r percentage of disability for rvhich also thcre rs r The wholc exercise made by t hc Htgh Court rs rr the competence of the Hrgh Court under Sectior- Act.' >rkmen's cn facts. pe of the r wclfarc sed tltis lurcC 1o lurgs on o basis. t u ithin Ll ot the

16. The said principle/r.iew is reiterated ir.. the Hon,ble Apex Court ln Fulmati Dhramd.ea yadau d.nd Another u. New India Assurqnce Co. Ltd.., and. Anothcr3.

17. For reasons aforesaid, this Court docs not find any infirmity or illegality in the order, dated I r .O6 .2O t4 , in W.C.No.6 of 2013 passed by the Comrr rssioner for Employees' Compensation and Assistant Corr missioner of ' (r976) r scc 2E9 '(20t7) I scc 45 ' 2023 SCC Online SC I 1Os (- (' J/K. J C MANo.8)O )0t! 9 I-abour-I: T.Anjaiah Karmika Samkshema Bhavanam, RTC Cross Roads, Hyderabad. The appea,l is devoid of merits and is liable to be dismissed f8. Accordingly, the Civil Miscellaneous Appea-l IS dismissed. No order as to costs Miscellaneous applications pending, if any, shall stand closed. Sd/- N- SRIHARI DEPUTY REGISTRAR //TRUE COPY// SECTION OFFICER To

1. The Commissioner for Employee's Compensation Commissioner of Labour I at Hyderabad.

2. One CC to Sri N J Sunil Kumar. Advocate [OPUC] 3. One CC to Sri Ajay Kumar lrrladtsetty, Advocate [OPUCI 4. Two CD Copies Assistant ABK/PR A € HIGH COURT DATED: 241061202s ORDER CMA.No.820 of 2014 DISMISSING THE CMA WITHOUT COSTS I c(J rHE SI4 t 2 I JAN 2026 '/ ..7