Case Title: Leela Bai and Anr V. Seema Chouhan and Anr.
The Supreme Court mandated that the employers shall compensate the legal heirs of a bus driver who had passed away in an accident while coming down the bus roof after his meals by applying the "doctrine of notional extension of the employment." The appeal of the legal heirs under the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923 as amended by the Workmen's Compensation (Amendment) Act, 2009, was rejected by the court.
Just because the driver(deceased), after his meals came down off the bus roof cannot be interpreted that he was off duty and won't be entitled to compensation. The bench comprising Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Navin Sinha noted this.
The judgement delivered in General Manager, B.E.S.T Undertaking, Bombay v. Mrs Agnes was also followed in which it was observed, "The man's work does not consist solely in the task which he is employed to perform. It includes also matters incidental to that task. Times during which meals are taken, moments during which the man is proceeding towards his work from one portion of his employers' premises to another, and periods of rest may all be included."
The bench was of the view that after arriving from Indore, the driver remained with the bus at the terminal because of compulsion assuming it to be his duty. There would definitely have been uncertainty in the departure schedule of the bus along with the efficiency of its services, in case the driver would have chosen to go home parking his bus every day. The public would then have to compromise because of the services. The bench also observed that, “It is not without reason that the deceased would not go home for weeks as deposed by the appellant."
The doctrine of a notional extension was applied because there was a clear connection between the accident and the employment. To this, the court added that, “If the requirement of the deceased to stay with the bus was integrally connected with the efficiency of the service to be provided to the public by respondent no.1 and the deceased was not present at the bus terminal with the bus in his nature as a member of the public by choice, we see no reason why the doctrine of notional extension of the employment will not be applicable."
Further, the Court ordered the commissioner of the Workmen’s Compensation to pay the legal heirs the appropriate compensation.