Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear that the accidents (Fras) during the job used under a provision of the Employees Compensation Act will also include accidents during the movement between the residence and the workplace. The court said that when the matter comes to accidents with employees while going to work or returning home, there is a lot of doubt and ambiguity about this frame used in Section 3 of the Act.
Section 3 of the Employees Compensation Act, 1923 is related to the obligations of the employer for compensation. A bench of Justice Manoj Mishra and Justice KV Vishwanathan said that it has been interpreted separately in various decisions based on facts.
What did the Supreme Court say?
He said that we explain the frame phrase ‘during the job and due to the accident’ used in Section 3 of the Employees Compensation Act in such a way that it will include an accident with an employee to work from his residence to workplace for duty or after returning from work to his residence, provided that there is a relationship between the circumstances of the accident, time, place and employment.
Bombay High Court order challenged
The Supreme Court ruled the judgment during the Bombay High Court’s hearing on the petition challenging the December 2011 order. The High Court had canceled the order of Labor Communication Commissioner and Civil Judge, Osmanabad, in which a person’s family members were ordered to pay compensation of Rs 3,26,140, including interest. This person died in an accident while going on duty.
Hearing on staff compensation act
The order was passed on a claim filed under the Employees Compensation Act. The Supreme Court said in its judgment that the deceased was working as a watchman in a Chinese factory and on 22 April 2003, his duty time on the day of the accident was from 3 am to 11 am. The bench said that it was undisputed that he was going towards his workplace and he died in an accident at a place about five kilometers before the workplace.
