- (1.)This appeal raises a question as to jurisdiction of the Motor VehiclesTribunal to grant relief by way of damages in cases of employees covered by the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948
(2.)The respondents 1 to 4 and two others filed the O.P.No. 304/1980as the legal representatives of the deceased for compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act. They impleaded the Krishna Dist. Lorry Owners Motor Spare Parts Co-operative Stores Limited being the owner of the vehicles as the 1st respondent and the National Insurance Company (appellant herein) as the 2nd respondent. It may be noted that the deceased was the clerk of the above Co-operative Stores which owned the vehicle which was an oil tanker. The deceased died while inspecting the oil Tanker from its top. The accident occurred on 8-9-1980 and the deceased was 28 years old at that time. The claimants (respondents 1 to 4) are the widow and minor children of the deceased.
(3.)Before the Tribunal, one of the contentions urged for the InsuranceCompany was that, by virtue of Section 53 of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 the jurisdiction of the Tribunal was expressly ousted. But the Tribunal came to the conclusion that the ouster only related to cases of 'employment injury' and not to cases of death of employees. The Tribunal proceeded with the merits of the case and awarded a compensation of Rs. 21,00/- in favour of respondents 1 to 4.