Employer cannot deny liability under the Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923 simply due to absence of driver’s license: Bombay High Court

The present First Appeal No. 103 of 2019 arise from the order of the labour court, wherein the appellants/claimants were denied compensation on account of non-existence of employee-employer relationship between the deceased truck driver and the employer i.e. the owner of the truck (“Respondent”), further the insurer of the employer refused to grant the claim stating that the driver did not possess a driving license in addition to the fact that there existed no employer-employee relation which was upheld by the labour court. The employer also contended that the deceased was not the truck driver instead he was gratuitous passenger. On the other hand, appellants claimed that the deceased received a monthly payment of INR 8,000/- from the employer and was an employee of the Respondent. The Bombay High Court considering the arguments advanced from both the sides observed that the burden was on the insurer to prove that the insured did not take adequate care and caution to verify the driving license or was guilty of willful breach of insurance policy, further the insurer did not make any efforts to find out the existence of valid driving license, a mere claim of non-existence of driving license cannot absolve insurer from its liability, thus the employer and the insurer are held liable for payment of compensation.