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Mercantile Laws – II

Notes (3) If the Commissioner is satisfied that the failure to give notice was due to sufficient cause.
A workman is bound to give notice of any accident which is not merely trivial, and it is not for
him to decide whether it is likely to give rise to a claim for compensation.

Section 10 also provides s that a claim for compensation must be preferred before the
Commissioner within two years of the occurrence of the accident or the date of death as the case
may be. In case the accident is the contracting of a disease the date of its occurrence is the first of
the days during which the workman was continuously absent from work in consequence of the
disablement caused by the disease.
The Commissioner may entertain a claim filed after the prescribed time, if he is of opinion that
the failure to file it within time, was due to.

Fatal Accident

Section 10 A provides that where a Commissioner receives information that a workman has
died as a result of an accident arising out of and in course of his employment, he may send by
registered post a notice to the workman’s employer requiring him to submit, within thirty days
of the service of the notice, a statement in the prescribed form, giving the circumstances attending
the death of the workman, and indicating whether in the opinion of the employer, he is or is not
liable to deposit compensation on account of the death.
If the employer is of opinion that he is liable, he shall make the deposit within thirty days of the
service of the notice. If he is of opinion that he is not liable, he must state his grounds. In the
latter case, the Commissioner, after such enquiry as he may think fit inform any of the dependents
of the deceased workman that it is open to them to prefer a claim and may give them such
further information as he may think fit.
Section 10 B provides that where by any law for the time being in force, notice is required to be
given to any authority by or on behalf of an employer, at any accident resulting in death or
serious bodily injury, the person required to give the notice shall also send a report to the
Commissioner. The report may be sent alternatively to any other authority prescribed by the
State Government.

The State government may extend the scope of the provision requiring reports of fatal accidents
to any class of premises. But Sec. 10 B does not apply to factories to which the Employees’ State
Insurance Act applies.

Medical Examination [Sec. 11]

1. After a workman gives notice of an accident, the employer may, within three days of the
service of the notice, offer to have him examined free of charge by a qualified medical practitioner.
2. Any workman in receipt of half-monthly payments may also be required to submit for
examination from time to time.
3. The Examination must be in accordance with the rules framed for the purpose.
4. If the workman refuses, without sufficient cause, to submit to the examination or if he leaves
the vicinity of the place in which he was employed, his right to receive compensation shall be
suspended during the continuance of the refusal or until his return to the vicinity and
examination.
5. In case the workman, who refused medical examination, subsequently dies, the Commissioner
has discretionary powers of direct payment of compensation to the dependents of the deceased
workman.

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