MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court held on Friday that a person cannot claim compensation under both the Workmen's Compensation Act and the Motor Vehicles Act for the same incident.
Justice RMT Teekaa Raman made the observation on two appeals filed by the family of a driver in the Commercial Taxes Department in Madurai, who died in a road accident on March 25, 1998 while on duty.
In one appeal, they sought enhancement of the compensation of Rs 1.32 lakh awarded to their family by the Deputy Commissioner of Labour under the Workmen’s Compensation Act in 2014. They were aggrieved over the fixation of salary while calculating the compensation.
In the other appeal, they challenged the order passed by the Additional District Court I, Madurai dismissing a petition filed by them claiming compensation from an insurance company for the same accident.
Justice Raman dismissed the appeal against the Deputy Commissioner’s order, by finding that the compensation fixed was fair.
With regard to the other appeal, the judge observed that the lower court had rightly dismissed the claim petition citing that since the accident occurred when the deceased - Ramachandran - was employed in a government department, he was a workman and hence, the opportunity was granted to work out his remedy under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.