ASSAM RAILWAYS AND TRADING CO. LTD. Vs. SARASWATI DEVI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against the judgment and order of the Additional Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, dated the 31st August, 1961, awarding compensation to the respondent, hereinafter referred to as 'the claimant'.

(2.) THE facts of the case briefly stated are as follows: The claimant Srimati Saraswati Devi is the widow of one Haradhan Chakravarty, who was an employee of the appellant here the Assam Railways and Trading Company, hereinafter referred to as 'the Company. The said Haradhan Chakravarty, hereinafter referred to as 'the deceased', was working with the Company at their colliery at Ledo as Battery Charger cum Electrician. On 1 -1 -60, the day of the accident, he was on duty over the night -shift. At about 11.30 P.M. it was found that the fan of the new west mine of the colliery had stopped working and the deceased was accordingly called upon to attend to the fan and to restart the same. It is not disputed that this was part of the duties that had to be performed by the deceased as an employee of the Company. The fan house in the Company's colliery establishment supplied fresh air to the miners working inside the same, and the stoppage of such supply of air would have the effect of suffocating the miners working inside the mine, with the possibility of their being rendered unconscious and dying. The deceased at first checked up with one Ram Bahadur Chetri, the workman incharge of the boiler room, whether the stoppage of the fans was due to the decreased pressure in the boiler. Having satisfied himself that the pressure in the boiler was all -right, the deceased hurried to the farmhouse to detect the cause and to restart the fan. His way to the fan -house from the boiler room lay across rails, wagons, girders, stones, tubs, etc. As he was thus hurrying the deceased fell down and cried out 'Mago'. He tried to get up catching hold of a nearby tub shouting for help. Thereupon two persons working on the premises came to the help of the deceased and carried him to the mouth of the pit and from there to Bati -godown and thereafter on a stretcher to the hospital. On being taken to the hospital the deceased expired even before the doctor incharge arrived. An inquest was held over the body of the deceased and the same was handed over to the claimant.

(3.) THIS claim of the claimant was resisted by the Company, who in their written statement, pleaded that the deceased died a natural death and not by reason of any accident arising out of and in the course of his employment. It was admitted in the written statement of the Company that the deceased, when he was caned upon to restart the fan which had stopped and before he could attend to the same, fell on the ground and called for help. It was also stated in the written statement that in response to the deceased's call for help, the persons working in the neighbourhood ran up to the deceased and saw him holding on to the side of a loaded tub for support and took him to the hospital after giving first aid. It was further stated that the deceased did not show any signs of ailment on the date of the accident, namely, 1 -1 -60. The plea of the Company in effect, therefore, was, that the deceased had died out of natural causes which had no connection with any accident that resulted out of his employment by the Company.