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Unit 8: Rules Regarding the Workmen’s Compensation Act

Self Assessment Notes

Fill in the blanks:
16. No Civil Court shall have jurisdiction to settle decided or deal with any question which
is by or under this Act required to be settled decided or dealt with by a .................... or to
enforce any liability incurred under this Act.

17. Every Commissioner shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the
.................... .
18. The Commissioner shall have all the powers of a Civil Court under the Code of Civil
Procedure .................... for the purpose of taking evidence on oath.

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Case Study A Madras High Court judgment calls for an amendment
of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923, to benefit the
worker

Judgment of the Madras High Court has raised the hopes of lakhs of workers,
particularly those in the unorganised sector, of getting a fair deal in case of an
A accident at the workplace or a fair compensation to their dependants in case of
death. The judgment calls for the amendment of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923,
which fixes a ceiling of ` 4,000 a month as the maximum wage of a labourer while calculating
the “employment injury compensation” to an injured workman or while arriving at the
compensation to dependants in case of death. Against the backdrop of criticism in trade
union circles that the “judiciary has turned its back on the working people and the poor,
particularly since the era of economic liberalisation”, Justice N. Kirubakaran, in his February
8 judgment, observes thus: “Minimum monthly wages can be fixed and there cannot be
any ceiling on the monthly wages. Fixing maximum monthly wages is detrimental to the
interests of the working class and would certainly affect the fundamental rights of the
workers guaranteed under Articles 19 (1) (g) [Right to carry on occupation] and 21 [Right to
life].” He said fixing ` 4,000 as the maximum wage, under Section 4 (1) Explanation-II of the
Act, went against the very object of the Act and it was high time the Act was amended.
The judgment comes in the wake of an appeal by the Oriental Insurance Company against
the award of ` 4,34,650 to a mason who suffered 80 per cent disability in an accident during
the course of employment on August 20, 2003, and claimed ` 3,00,000 as compensation.
Going into two “substantial questions of law at the time of admission” of the appeal, the
court upheld the decision of the Deputy Commissioner of Labour that the claimant was
a “workman” who suffered injuries during the course of employment and confirmed his
award fixing the compensation at ` 4,34,650. The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and
the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) have welcomed the judgment. Recalling that
the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923, has its origins in the colonial period like many
other primary and major Acts, the court pointed out that but for “cosmetic amendments”,
the main statement of object and reasons for the enactment of the law remained the same.
The object of the piece of legislation was to compensate for injuries arising out of accidents
during the course of employment and resulting in disablement or death, the judge pointed
out. He said that as the object was very laudable and the legislation had been enacted
for the benefit of workmen, there should not have been a ceiling on the monthly wage of
workers at ` 4,000.

Contd...

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