The main legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of 'accident' under the Workmen's Compensation Act, emphasizing the need for a causal connection between the death and the employment, and the liberal interpretation of the Act to advance its welfare purposes.

( 1 ) THE Appellant is aggrieved by an order dated 9th November, 1993 passed by the Commissioner under the Workmen s Compensation Act, 1923 (for short the Act ).

( 2 ) THE husband of the Respondent was employed by the Appellant as a Special Welder on 19th July, 1988 to work in Amman (Jordan ). While he was so working, on 7th February, 1990 at about 11. 00 a. m. , he felt unwell and was removed to hospital. He died at about 11. 30 a. m. and as per the medical report, he had acute anteroseptal myocardia infarction. In other words, he died of a heart attack.

( 3 ) THE Respondent made a claim for compensation and by the impugned order, the Commissioner awarded a sum of Rs. 75,824/- payable within 30 days from the date of the order.

( 4 ) THE issues framed for consideration by the Commissioner were as follows:-

"1. Whether the claim of the petitioner is not maintainable in view of the preliminary objections raised in the W/s. 2. Whether the deceased died due to an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment. 3. To what amount of compensation the petitioner is entitled. 4. Relief. "

( 5 ) LEARNED counsel for the Appellant neither challenged the quantum of compensation nor did he raise any technical issue. His main contention was that since the deceased died of a heart attack, it could not be said that it was an accident within the meaning of the Act. The death was due to natural causes for which the Appellant cannot be held responsible.

( 6 ) LEARNED counsel for the Respondent brought to my notice various letters sent by the deceased to the Respondent, which have been mentioned in the order of the Commissioner. The submission based on these letters was that even though several facilities were agreed to be offered to the workman in Amman, in fact many of them were not available and the lack of adequate facilities caused great mental tension to the deceased. For example in a letter dated 10th March, 1989 Exhibit WW7, the deceased wrote as follows:-

" I had thought the company will be alright but here (at Jordan) its condition is very worse. They, have not deposited their money since last 4 months in Delhi. We are being harassed by them, here their officers are big crooks. Since it is a private company we all are suffering. "

( 7 ) SIMILARLY in Exhibit WW8 the deceased wrote as follows:-

"the company has got no proper postal arrangement. The do not pay/deposit the money in proper time. If a person asks for facilities, they send them India immediately. Hence no worker speaks anything against them. "

( 8 ) THE submission of learned counsel for the Respondent is that the heart attack was caused by great mental tension that the deceased was undergoing because of a lack of adequate facilities. It is submitted that the deceased was a labourer, who had gone to a foreign country to earn some money and the very purpose of his visit was being frustrated by the appellant. This would have naturally caused him a great deal of tension, more so since he was living away from his family in a foreign land.

( 9 ) WHAT the word "accident" means was settled long ago in Fenton v. J. Thorley and Co. , [1903] A. C. 443. After reviewing the case law, the title of the Workmen s Compensation Act, 1897 and its preliminary sections, lord Macnaghten concluded on page 448 of the Report that:

". . . the expression "accident" is used in the popular and ordinary sense of the word as denoting an unlooked-for mishap or an untoward event which is not expected or designed. "on page 453 of the Report, Lord Lindley said: "the word "accident" is not a technical legal term with a clearly defined meaning. Speaking generally, but with reference to legal liabilities, an accident means any unintended and unexpected occurrence which produces hurt or loss. But it is often use to denote any unintended and unexpected loss or hurt apart from its cause; and if the cause is not known the loss or hurt itself would certainly be called an accident. The word "acci