9911796707
TMI Blog1983 (2) TMI 97X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... : "143. Payment of compensation for personal injury resulting in permanent incapacity or death arising out of and in the course of employment, but not being death or injury caused by officer's own wilful act or default or misbehaviour, the Company shall pay a lump sum compensation as under --- (a) If the officer is more than 30 years of age on the 48 months' wages. date of accident causing permanent incapacity or on the day of his death (b) More than 30 years of age on the date of the 42 months' wages. accident causing permanent incapacity or on the day of his death The monthly wages referred to in the aforesaid clause was to be calculated in accordance with clause 146 which reads as follows : "146. Monthly wages for purposes of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... estate as the said amount was paid to the deceased in terms of one of the clauses of his service contract. The learned Appellate Controller, has, however, excluded the aforesaid amount from the dutiable estate of the deceased, following the decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in the case of Smt. Lakshmisagar Reddy v. CED [1980] 123 ITR 601. While doing so, the observations of the Appellate Controller were, inter alia, as follows : ". . . the real question is whether the compensation became payable directly to a particular class of persons or to the estate itself. In that context, the opinion of the commentator is that a mere power of nomination would not be enough to bring section 6 of the ED Act into play. In the present case, if ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... account of the service terms and conditions of the deceased. It was not left to the discretion of the employer to pay the amount or not. The amount was payable in any case, the only discretion left to the employer was to give it to the nominees of the deceased or to his legal representatives, and as such, the ratio of the decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court relied on by the learned counsel for the accountable person would have no application to the facts of the present case. 3. We have carefully examined the facts of the case and the rival submissions. A perusal of clause 143 extracted above, would show that the payment of compensation stipulated therein was not only if the employee died as a result of some injury ; it was payable a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rked out in clause 143 extracted above. Another important point in clause 143 is the manner in which the compensation is to be computed. The said compensation would be equal to 48 months' wages if the employee was more than 30 years of age on the date of accident, causing permanent incapacity on the date of his death. Clause 146 defined the monthly wages for the above purpose to be the basic monthly wages applicable to the officer concerned at the time of the accident. The aforesaid features of the compensation scheme contained in clauses 143 to 146 of the agreement are peculiar to the facts of the present case. We have to determine in their context whether the deceased employee had any interest in the property in terms of clause 143 at the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le considering the decision of the Delhi High Court in A. T. Sahani's case. The observations of their Lordships, inter alia, were as follows : "Therein it was held that the payment of compensation way not gratuitous nor did it depend upon the discretion of the Corporation. But it is a compulsory payment which the Corporation is bound to make on the happening of a certain event to the heirs of the deceased. Therefore, there is a direct nexus between the right of the deceased as an essential condition of his service to have that compensation paid to his legal representatives and the right of his legal representatives to receive that payment. The right of the deceased in the circumstances was held to be interest in property . . . But in the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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