United India Insurance Company Limited, rep. by its Divisional Manager v. Bal Reddy s/o. Venkat Rami Reddy
2012-10-19
B.N.RAO NALLA
body2012
DigiLaw.ai
Judgment This appeal has been filed by the United India Insurance Company Limited assailing the order dated 04.07.2011 in W.C. No. 22 of 2008 on the file of the Commissioner for Workmen’s Compensation and Deputy Commissioner of Labour, Mahabubnagar, whereby and whereunder the applicant-claimant was awarded an amount of Rs.99,186-88ps as compensation as against the claim of Rs.3,00,000/-. 2. The parties hereinafter referred to as they arrayed in the W.C. 3. The brief facts of the case of the applicant are that he was employed by opposite party No.1 as labourer for the past six months for the purpose of loading and unloading manure to agricultural fields on her tractor trailer bearing registration No. AP 22 H -6009 and AP 22 H -2010. On 15.02.2008, when he was going from Chittanoor village to Narva, sitting in the trailer of the tractor carrying manure, at about 6.00 p.m., the tractor overturned near Ram Puram Reddy Cheruvu due to rash and negligent driving by the driver of the tractor and resultantly, he sustained grievous injuries all over his body. His right leg was badly injured and as such he is unable to walk permanently. P.S. Narva registered a case in Crime No.05 of 2008 under Section 338 of IPC against the driver of the tractor. The applicant was admitted to the Government Civil Hospital, Mahabubnagar, thereafter he was shifted to Vijaya Orthopaedic Hospital, Mahabubnagar where he underwent treatment for about 20 days as in -patient. Therefore, opposite party No.1 and opposite party No.2, being owner and insurer of the tractor trailer respectively are jointly and severally liable to pay Rs.3,00,000/-towards compensation. 4. Opposite Party No.1 filed her counter disputing the narration of the accident made in the application. She stated that the applicant was working as labourer on her tractor-trailer prior to the accident. She denied that she had paid monthly salary @ Rs.3,000/-to the applicant. She stated that she used to pay him daily wage @ Rs.80/-per day and the driver of the tractor-trailer was in possession of a valid driving licence and the tractor-trailer was insured with opposite party No.2 bearing Policy No.51103/31/0100000961, which was in force from 31.07.2007 to 30.10.2008. Therefore, the compensation if any granted, the same may be recovered from opposite party No.2 and dismiss the claim against her. 5.
Therefore, the compensation if any granted, the same may be recovered from opposite party No.2 and dismiss the claim against her. 5. Opposite party No.2 filed its counter disputing the entire averments made in the claim application, particularly with regard to occurrence of the accident, consequent injuries caused to the applicant, age and earnings of the applicant, possession of a valid driving licence by the driver of the tractor trailer, insurance policy being in force on the date of the accident and the existence of employee and employer relationship between the applicant and opposite party No.1 as labourer and owner. It is also stated in the counter that the applicant was travelling in a goods vehicle as an unauthorized passenger. It is further stated that the applicant sustained injuries in other accident. Therefore, the application is liable to be dismissed. 6. On behalf of the applicant, applicant himself got examined as AW.1 and also got examined a doctor as AW.2 and got marked Exs.A.1 to A.4. On behalf of opposite party No.1 -owner of the tractor-trailer, she herself got examined as RW.1, however no documents were marked, and on behalf of opposite party No.2 -insurance company, its administrative officer was examined as RW.1 and Ex.B.1 -insurance policy was marked. 7. The Commissioner, taking into consideration the material available on record and the submissions made on either side, partly allowed the W.C. granting a compensation of Rs.99,186.88ps as against the claim of Rs.3,00,000/-and fastened joint and several liability on opposite party No.1 and opposite party No.2, being the owner and the insurer of the tractor trailer respectively. Aggrieved by the same, opposite party No.2 insurance company filed this Civil Miscellaneous Appeal. 8. Heard the learned counsel on either side and perused the material on record. 9. The case of the insurance company is that no employee and employer relationship exists between the applicant -labourer and opposite party No.1 -owner of the tractor trailer as the applicant was a student studying Intermediate at the time of accident. The Commissioner ought to have considered the contents of Exs.A.1 and A.3 which indicate that the applicant was a student at the time of accident. The insurance policy does not cover the risk of the applicant as no premium was paid by opposite party No.1 to cover the risk of the applicant.
The Commissioner ought to have considered the contents of Exs.A.1 and A.3 which indicate that the applicant was a student at the time of accident. The insurance policy does not cover the risk of the applicant as no premium was paid by opposite party No.1 to cover the risk of the applicant. The Commissioner, having assessed the loss of earning capacity of the applicant at 2%, grossly erred in showing the compensation at Rs.99,186.88, instead of Rs.9,918.69ps. 10. On the other hand, it is the case of the applicant that it was open for opposite party No.2 -insurance company, during the course of trial before the Commissioner to disprove that the applicant is labourer employed by opposite party No.1 on her tractor trailer. Therefore, opposite Party No.2 is estopped from raising any such plea at this appellate stage. Moreover, it is in the evidence of RW.1, who is opposite party No.1 owner of the tractor-trailer that the applicant was working as labourer on her tractor-trailer and she used to pay daily wage @ Rs.80/-per day. So there exists employee and employer relationship between the applicant and opposite party No.1. RW.1 deposed that the accident occurred due to defective driving by the driver of the tractor-trailer. RW.1 denied that the applicant was an unauthorized passenger. Further, opposite party No.2 -insurance company taking advantage of clerical mistake in the impugned order is contending that the Commissioner has erred in calculating the compensation. In fact, the said contention of opposite party No.2 is unsustainable since in the impugned order, by mistake, the earning capacity of the applicant was mentioned as 2%, instead of 20%, and it is purely a clerical mistake. 11. The contention of opposite party No.2 -insurance company is that the applicant was not employee of opposite party No.1 and that he was a student at the time of the accident. It relied on Exs.A.1 -FIR and A.3 -charge sheet, which were marked on behalf of the applicant for the said purpose. The applicant filed those documents in order to establish his case. The contents of those documents cannot be relied entirely since the scope and veracity of those documents is very limited in deciding the claim petitions. They cannot be said to be substantive evidence.
The applicant filed those documents in order to establish his case. The contents of those documents cannot be relied entirely since the scope and veracity of those documents is very limited in deciding the claim petitions. They cannot be said to be substantive evidence. Opposite party No.2 insurance company did not file any document on its behalf to show that the applicant was a student and he is not employee of opposite party No.1. RW.1, who is opposite party No.1 -owner of the tractor-trailer, stated in unequivocal terms that the applicant was working as labourer for the purpose of loading and unloading manure to agricultural fields on her tractor trailer bearing registration No. AP 22 H-6009 and AP 22 H-6010. Moreover, there is no bar that a student cannot work as labourer. So far as the contention of the insurance company that the policy does not cover the risk of the applicant is concerned, RW.2, who is administrative officer of the insurance company, admitted in his cross-examination that damage to the vehicle and the labourer is covered by the policy. So far as the contention of the insurance company that the Commissioner has wrongly calculated the compensation is concerned, the evidence of AW.2 -doctor is that on examining the applicant, he assessed the disability suffered by the applicant at 20% and to that effect he issued Ex.A.4 -disability certificate. Further, having regard to the injuries suffered by the applicant, it cannot be said that the Commissioner has assessed the loss of earning capacity of the applicant at 2%. It appears it was wrongly typed as 2% instead of 20% and it is a clerical mistake. Further, it appears that the compensation was worked out at Rs.99,186-88ps by taking into consideration the loss of earning capacity of the applicant at 20%. Therefore, the contention of opposite party No.2 – insurance company is unsustainable. 12. In view of the above discussion and having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, this Court is of the view that the impugned order does not suffer from any errorwg or irregularity warranting interference from this Court, and as such, the C.M.A. is liable to be dismissed. 13. In the result, the C.M.A. is dismissed. No order as to costs.