Summary
A 40-year-old woman labourer was building a government hospital in Bidar when a centering plate collapsed on her and she fell from the second floor. She suffered spinal and compound fractures and was told she could never lift weights again. The doctor assessed 58% disability of the limb, or 26% of the whole body. The Commissioner took 20% and the Karnataka High Court raised her income to Rs 8,000 a month, awarding Rs 2.19 lakh. The Supreme Court held that functional disability must be judged by its effect on earning capacity, following Raj Kumar, K. Janardhan and S. Suresh. A labourer who can no longer lift loads is 100% disabled. It raised the award to Rs 9.3 lakh with 9% interest.
Issues
- Whether a construction labourer rendered permanently unable to lift weights must be assessed at 100% loss of earning capacity under the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923, though the medical assessment of whole-body disability was 26%.
Provisions considered
- Sections 2(1)(g), 2(1)(l) and 4(1), Employee's Compensation Act, 1923Disablement is total where it incapacitates the worker for all work she was capable of performing at the time of the accident; compensation was computed at 60% of monthly wages times the relevant factor for age 40, applying 100% loss of earning capacity. (¶¶ 13, 14, 15, 19, 23)
Held
- Following Raj Kumar v. Ajay Kumar, the percentage of physical disability is not mechanically the percentage of loss of earning capacity; the tribunal must ask what the claimant can still do, what her avocation was and whether she can carry on that or any other work. (¶¶ 16, 20)
- The appellant, a labourer whose work involved lifting heavy weights, was rendered incapable of that work, so the Commissioner erred in treating her disability as 20%; as in K. Janardhan and S. Suresh, where drivers who lost a leg were held 100% disabled, her case falls within total disablement. (¶¶ 18, 19, 21, 22)
- Taking income at Rs 8,000 a month, 60% of it at Rs 4,800 and the factor 184.17, compensation is Rs 8,84,016, which with Rs 42,200 medical expenses comes to Rs 9,26,216, rounded to Rs 9,30,000, with interest at 9% from the date of the application. (¶¶ 23, 24)
Result
Civil Appeal No. 9069 of 2022 allowed; the Karnataka High Court (Kalaburagi Bench) order dated 07.08.2018 in Misc. First Appeal No. 202250 of 2017 set aside and compensation enhanced to Rs 9,30,000 with interest at 9% per annum from the date of the application, payable by the respondent insurer within six weeks.