CHENNAI: Aged parents of a deceased person is also eligible for compensation sanctioned under the Workmen Compenstion Act, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has ruled. Justice S Vaidyanathan gave the ruling while dismissing a petition from Thilagavathi, wife of the deceased person, claiming the entire money to be paid to her and her two children, who had attained majority. While working as a machine operator at Sakthi Sugar Mills at Sivaganga, Subramaniyan suffered a grave injury and subsequently, died.
Based on the claim made by Thilagavathi under Sec. 22 of the Workmen Compensation Act, an award of Rs 5.75 lakh had been passed by the Tribunal and it had also become final in December 2015. Based on the report of the enquiry officer appointed by the Deputy Commissioner of Labour, Madurai, to ascertain the real dependents of the deceased employee, the children of the deceased had been excluded from the array of dependents as they had attained majority and the father and mother of the deceased were included and the award money was divided proportionately among the three -- the parents and the wife.
Aggrieved, Thilagavathi approached the HC, contending that dependants as per the Act meant widow, a minor (legitimate or adopted) son, an unmarried (legitimate or adopted) daughter or a widowed mother, who alone are eligible to receive the compensation. As the mother of the deceased employee is not a widow, the question of granting compensation to them did not arise at all, she argued. The parents submitted that they were dependant on their deceased son and that due to ill-feeling, Thilagavathi had deserted her husband and did not live with him during his last period of two years.
It was he, who had spent money for the deceased son's medical expenses and therefore, the impugned order is perfectly valid in the eye of law and it does not require any interference. Justice S Vaidyanathan, before whom the petition came up last month, found that there was nothing wrong in adding the parents of the deceased as dependants, as they rightly came under the purview of Sec. 2(1)(d)(iii)(b) of the Act, as it included “a parent other than a widowed mother”.
Even assuming for the sake of argument that the children of the petitioner have got to be treated as dependants, the amount of compensation will have to be apportioned from the money payable to the petitioner herein and not from the amount payable to the parents of the deceased employee. Therefore, the Judge, finding no merits dismissed the petition.