JUDGMENT

Mrs. Lisa Gill, J.:- This judgment shall dispose of FAO No.2110 of 2016, FAO No.2288 of 2017, FAO No.5882 of 2018, FAO No.6845 of 2016, FAO No.1652 of 2017, FAO No.3757 of 2018 and FAO No.916 of 2018 alongwith XOBJC No.163-CII of 2018.

2. All these appeals are taken up together for hearing as one common primary question is raised in all these appeals by learned counsel for the appellant-Insurance Companies viz.,

‘whether in a case, where no documentary evidence is led by the claimants to prove the income of a deceased or injured as the case may be, it is the minimum wages as fixed by the State under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, which should be assessed as the income of the deceased/injured or the rates fixed by the Deputy Commissioner of the area, to be paid in contingencies to workers appointed by the government on contract at that particular point of time (hereinafter referred to, as the ‘DC Rates’)?’

3. Learned counsel for the appellant-Insurance Companies vehemently argue that in a situation where the claimants fail to lead any documentary evidence to prove the in