Q: My father was working as a cleaner in a truck owned by a transport company. About six months ago, while getting down from the truck, my father had a pain in the chest and collapsed. He was taken to the hospital where he was declared brought dead and the cause of death was stated to be a massive heart attack. I have heard about some law under which the family of the deceased employee can claim compensation from the employer for the accidental death of an employee. Can we claim compensation under this law? Please advise.
V. Yadab
A:You have probably heard of the Workmens’ Compensation Act, 1923. The said Act was enacted to provide for payment by certain classes of employers to workmen or their families by way of compensation for injury or death caused to such workmen by accident. The liability of the employer would arise if injury or death were caused to the workman by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment. For the Act to be applicable, these provisions have to be satisfied: i) an injury must be caused to the workman; ii) such injury must have been caused by an accident; and iii) it arose out of or in the course of his employment. In a recent case, the Supreme Court has held that the death must have been caused by an accident and such accident must have occurred in the course of the workman discharging his duty. In your case, even assuming that your father was on duty when he suffered the heart attack, it does not appear that there was any accident that caused his death. Hence, it will be difficult to claim compensation. However, if you can establish that it was the nature of work and the resulting strain that contributed to your father’s heart attack leading to his death then a case for claiming compensation can be made out.
Q:In January 2006, I was engaged as a contractor by a multinational company to render cleaning services in a residential colony of the company. The contract was in writing and was for a period of three years and contained a clause entitling either party to terminate the contract upon a month’s notice. Suddenly in October, the company served a notice terminating the contract with effect from December 1, 2006, on the ground that the service rendered was not satisfactory. There is no merit in such allegation and I believe that the company wants to award the contract to some other party. How can I stop the company from doing so? Please note that the contract contained an arbitration clause. Should I approach civil court or should I refer the matter to arbitration straightaway? Please advise.
S. Jana
A:You should refer the dispute to arbitration by invoking the arbitration clause in the contract. If you approach the civil court by filing a suit, the company may invoke Section 8 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996, whereupon the civil court will most certainly refer the dispute to arbitration. However, the only relief you can ask for is damages if you can establish that the termination of the contract by the company was wrongful and has caused monetary loss or loss of business reputation to you. In my view, you cannot stop the company from engaging some other contractor. Your contract by nature is terminable and Sections 14 and 41 of the specific Relief Act, 1963, do not permit specific enforcement of such contract nor would permit granting of any injunction restraining the company from engaging some other contractor.
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