- (1.) The Director General, Department of Posts, Postal Board, Government of India and four other of its allied departments, in effect the Union of India, have filed the present writ petition impugning the order of the Commissioner and Labour Officer, Maunath Bhanjan, Azamgarh on the application of one Smt. Savitri Devi, seeking a claim under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923, on the death of her husband, Sharda Prasad Singh by an accident while on duty. As a result of the accident, the petition itself narrates, the postman, Sharda Prasad Singh, received head injuries and went into a coma from which he never recovered and died on February 11, 1981.
(2.) His widow, Smt. Savitri Devi, contends that she was living in the hope that she would be awarded compensation by the Postal authorities but when it was not forthcoming she was constrained to seek a claim before the Commissioner, Workmen's Compensation under the Act, aforesaid. She filed a belated claim. The Commissioner, Workmen's Compensation condoned the delay on the application of the widow seeking compensation and the claim was registered for consideration by an order dated January 24, 1986.
(3.) The Commissioner, Workmen's Compensation was of the view that adequate grounds were available to the widow of Sharda Prasad to file an application, though belatedly, and he further observed that it would be in the interest of justice and equity to permit the claim to be registered for adjudication on merits.;