The central legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for the accident to arise out of and in the course of employment to warrant compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act.

1. This is an appeal under Section 30 of the Workmen™s Compensation Act, 1923 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) against the award dated 07.09.1995 passed by Commissioner, Workmen™s Compensation Act, Labour Commissioner, J&K, Jammu (hereinafter referred to as the Commissioner) by virtue of which he has awarded an amount of Rs.77,856/- as compensation in favour of the legal representatives of Mohan Singh.

2. The relevant facts for the disposal of this appeal are that deceased Mohan Singh was working as driver with non-applicant No.1 Amar Singh who was the owner of the vehicle No.1387-JKS. On 19.05.1994, during the course of his employment with non-applicant No.1 deceased Mohan Singh left for Srinagar, after loading his truck and on his way, the deceased fell ill and asked his cleaner to drive his vehicle. On 20.05.1994 at about 4 A.M. when vehicle reached near Awantipora (Kashmir), some army personnel stopped the vehicle and asked the persons sitting inside the vehicle to come down. Driver Mohan Singh was not feeling well, he took some time to come down from the vehicle, which infuriated the army personnel who have given severe beating to the deceased driver and when he tried to argue with them, one of army jawans fired upon the deceased Mohan Singh, killing him on the spot. The cleaner of the vehicle reported the matter to the police and FIR was registered in Police Station Awantipora, and post mortem was conducted on the dead body of the Mohan Singh. It was further pleaded that the deceased was 36 years old at the time of accident and getting Rs.2000/- per month as salary including allowances from the non-applicant No.1.

3. Petition for grant of compensation was filed before the Commissioner and on notice Amar Singh, non-applicant No.1 admitted the contents of petition. Non-applicant No.2 (appellant herein) raised number of objections and pleaded that the deceased was not performing his duties at the time of accident and was not holding a valid driving licence. It was also pleaded that the Commissioner has no jurisdiction to entertain and adjudicate the matter, as the claimants have not approached the Assistant Labour Commissioner, Awantipora.

4. After recording evidence of the parties, learned Commissioner passed the award as stated in paragraph No.1 of the judgment, aggrieved by which the Insurance Company has preferred this appeal.

5. Learned counsel for the appellant has raised two-fold contentions. His first contention is that under the Act, claim petition could be filed within the jurisdiction of the Assistant Labour Commissioner, Awantipora (Kashmir) under whose jurisdiction the accident had occurred which has the jurisdiction to entertain and adjudicate the petition, but the claimants filed the claim petition before the Commissioner, Workmen™s Compensation Act Labour Commissioner, Jammu. The next contention raised by the learned counsel for the appellant is that deceased-Mohan Singh had not died due to accident which arose out and in the course of his employment. He submitted that under Section 3(1) of the Act, the compensation could not be awarded after the workman had died in an accident during the course of his employment. He submitted that the deceased-Mohan Singh had altercation with the Army personnel and Army personnel fired a shot as a result of which he died. He submitted that even this occurrence is taken as an accident, it is not one which has arisen during the course of employment of deceased-Mohan Singh. When the accident has not occurred during the course of employment of the deceased-Mohan Singh, his legal heirs are not entitled for compensation. In support of his arguments, he has relied upon the cases reported as Special Officer, Periyakulam Anna Polythene Worker™ Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd. Vs. Ayyammal and another, 1994 ACJ 1225 and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. Vs. Gyan Kaur and another, 2000 ACJ 100.

6. In Special Officer, Periyakulam Anna Polythene Worker™s Industrial Co-op, Society Ltd. V

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