FAO No. 4999 of 2009 -1- In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh FAO No. 4999 of 2009 (O&M) Date of decision : 17.12.2009 Punjab Water Supply & Sewerage Board ..... Appellant vs Smt. Veero and others .... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. Vijay K. Kaushal, Advocate, for the appellant. Rajesh Bindal J. Challenge in the present appeal is to the order passed by the Commissioner, Workmen's Compensation Act-cum-Assistant Labour Commissioner, Ferozepur, awarding a sum of Rs. 3,89,280/- as compensation and interest to the respondents on account of death of Hadiat, husband of respondent no. 1 and father of respondents no. 2 and 6. Brief facts of the case are that deceased Hadiat was employed as Sewerman with the appellant. On 2.8.2001, when he was cleaning the sewer in Basti Tankan Wali, Ferozepur City, he became unconscious due to inhalation of gas and died due to asphyxia. Thereafter, the widow of the deceased (respondent no. 1) made several requests for releasing the payment of compensation. The respondents-claimants filed claim petition. Their claim petition was accepted against which the present appeal is preferred by the Board. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that in the present case the claim petition was filed after a delay of 7 years whereas in terms of the provisions of Section 10 of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 (for short, “the Act”) such an application could be filed within a period of two years. After hearing the argument raised by the learned counsel for the appellants, I do not find any merit in the present appeal. It is admitted case of the appellant that the deceased was its employee and died while cleaning the sewer. The dispute is sought to be raised on the issue that the claim petition filed by the respondents was not within the time prescribed under Section 10-A of the Act. However, a perusal of the impugned order shows that the respondents had, in fact, filed applications before the authority concerned immediately, claiming compensation under the Act. RW1 N. D. Bawa has admitted that information about the death of the worker was received in the office. According to the FAO No. 4999 of 2009 -2- provisions of the Act, it is the duty of the employer to make the payment of the compensation suo moto within a period of one month to the family of the deceased employee, which the appellant department failed to do so. It is a case where respondent no. 1 who is the widow of the deceased is an illiterate lady and respondents no. 2 and 6 were kids at the time when their father expired in the year 2001. Last proviso to Section 10 (1) (b) of the Act enables the Commissioner to condone the delay even if the application is not filed within time. The Commissioner in this case had exercised his jurisdiction having considered the facts of the present case and finding reasons to be sufficient therefor which, in my opinion, cannot be faulted with considering the fact that it is a beneficial piece of legislation and in terms of the provisions of the Act the family of the deceased was, in fact, entitled to the compensation under the Act. For the reasons recorded above, the present appeal is dismissed. Consequently, the application for condonation of delay is also dismissed. 17.12.2009 ( Rajesh Bindal) vs Judge