1. Respondent's husband, Parameswara Menon (hereinafter referred to as the insured), was an employee of the Indian Rare Earths Limited, Eloor. His working hours were 9 a.m. to 4.30 p. m. His bouse was at Ernakulam. From there to the factory and thence back borne every day he travelled by bus. Formerly the company had its own transport service for the transport of its employees residing in places like Ernakulam, Alwaye and Trippu-nithura to the factory and back. When the company stopped its own transport service, it made arrangements with bus operators for such employees' travel to the factory from those places and return journey home. Still later the company stopping such arrangements began paying the employees a substantial portion of their fare at subsidy. The insured was getting 2/3 of the actual fare he had to pay for his journey from Ernakulam to the factory and the return journey. By the joint effort of the management and the employees' union permits were issued to the bus operators to operate the buses between the factory gate and the different places where the employees were residing with a time schedule that suited their (the employees') convenience to come to