JUDGMENT

Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, J.-Leave granted.

2. This appeal is directed against the judgment of the High Court of Delhi passed in FAO No.184/2005 dated 23.05.2007. The said appeal before the High Court arose out of an award passed by the Workmen’s Compensation Commissioner in its order dated 29.12.2004 in WCD/113/NWD/02. The Workmen’s Compensation Commissioner determined the compensation payable to the appellant herein in a sum of Rs.2,20,280/- along with another sum of Rs.2500/- as funeral charges under Section 4(4) of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. A separate show-cause-notice was issued for payment of interest and penalty. The respondent herein preferred the abovesaid appeal in FAO No.184/2005 in which the High Court passed the impugned order setting aside the order passed by the Commissioner. It is in the abovesaid background the appellant-claimant has come forward with this appeal.

3. At the very outset, it is required to be stated that the appellant claimed himself to be the adopted son of the deceased Jeet Singh @ Ajit Singh. According to the claimant the deceased Jeet Singh @ Ajit Singh was employed as Truck Driver by the second respondent herein to drive truck bearing No.DL-IG-8255. It is stated that in July 2002 the deceased Jeet Singh @ Ajit Singh was assigned the duty of driving the abovesaid truck in connection with the trade and business of the second respondent from Delhi to Nimiaghat, that on 17.07.2002 when the vehicle reached near about the destination Nimiaghat, District Giridih, the deceased suffered a health set-back and therefore he parked the vehicle on the road side of a nearby hotel. It is further stated that immediately after parking the vehicle he fainted and the persons nearby took him to the hospital where the doctors declared that he was brought dead. An FIR was stated to have been lodged with the police and thereafter the postmortem was conducted at Civil Hospital, District Giridih. The said truck was insured with the first respondent herein. In the abovesaid background the appellant preferred the application before the Commissioner of Workmen’s Compensation, Delhi contending that the death of the deceased was in the course of his employment with the trade and business of the second respondent and that his death was due to stress and strain while driving the said truck continuously over a period of time. It was further claimed that at the time of his death the deceased was drawing wages at the rate of Rs.3091/- per month apart from a sum of RS.50/- per day as allowances and in all a sum of Rs.4591/- per month. The age of the deceased was stated to be 45 years at the time of his death. Appellant also claimed interest @ 12% p.a from the date of accident till realization apart from claiming penalty.

4. The claimof the appellant was resisted by the first respondent substantively on two grounds. In the first place it was contended that the appellant had no locus to file the claim petition inasmuch as he was not a dependant. It was then contended that the death of the deceased was due to natural causes and that there was no CAUSAL CONNECTION between the death of the deceased and that of his employment. The specific stand of the first respondent was that the deceased was an unmarried person, that on that day he was not driving the vehicle and that one Bhure Singh s/o Dharam Pal Singh was driving the truck in question and that no accident took place. The jurisdiction of the Commissioner was also questioned.

5. Before the Commissioner the biological father of the appellant examined himself as a witness who was cross-examined on behalf of the respondents. One Anil Sharma s/o the second respondent gave evidence on his side who was cross-examined by the counsel for the appellant. On behalf of the first respondent one A.B. Dutta was examined. On behalf of the appellant Exhibits AW1/1 to AW1/7 and AW1/R were marked. AW1/1 is the copy of FIR, AW1/2 is the copy of postmortem report, AW1/3 is t