{"id":1298894,"date":"2025-08-15T12:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T06:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?p=1298894"},"modified":"2025-08-15T12:04:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T06:34:46","slug":"accidents-while-going-to-office-or-coming-back-covered-under-compensation-law-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/accidents-while-going-to-office-or-coming-back-covered-under-compensation-law-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Accidents While Going To Office Or Coming Back Covered Under Compensation Law &#8211; Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Supreme Court has delivered a game-changing judgment affirming that employees injured or killed while commuting to or from work may be entitled to compensation under the Employees\u2019 Compensation Act, 1923 (EC Act), if there is a clear connection between the accident and their employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Public-Transport-Panic-Button-1280x720-1-1024x576-1.jpeg\" alt=\"Accidents While Going To Office Or Coming Back Covered Under Compensation Law - Supreme Court\" class=\"wp-image-1298903\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Public-Transport-Panic-Button-1280x720-1-1024x576-1.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Public-Transport-Panic-Button-1280x720-1-1024x576-1-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Public-Transport-Panic-Button-1280x720-1-1024x576-1-768x432.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The ruling, passed on July 29, 2025, by Justices Manoj Misra and K V Viswanathan in <em>D<a href=\"https:\/\/lawbeat.in\/news-updates\/accidents-during-office-commute-covered-under-compensation-law-supreme-court-clarifies-1514359\">avishala &amp; Ors vs Oriental Insurance Company Ltd &amp; Anr<\/a><\/em>, interprets the phrase \u201caccident arising out of and in the course of employment\u201d to include reasonable commutes linked to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Notional Extension of the Workplace<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Historically, Indian courts have been divided on whether commuting accidents qualify for compensation. The Supreme Court applied the <strong>\u201cnotional extension\u201d<\/strong> principle, which extends the workplace to certain times and locations beyond the actual premises, provided there is a strong nexus with the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Referring to Section 51E of the Employees\u2019 State Insurance Act, 1948 (ESI Act), the court noted that this provision clearly recognises commuting accidents as work-related if time, place, and circumstances connect them to employment. Importantly, the bench deemed Section 51E as <strong>clarificatory<\/strong> and applicable retrospectively, harmonising its interpretation with the EC Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Case Background<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The case concerned Shahu Sampatrao Jadhavar, a watchman at a sugar factory, whose duty hours were 3 am to 11 am. On April 22, 2003, he met with a fatal motorcycle accident around five kilometres from his workplace while on his way to duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Workmen\u2019s Compensation Commissioner had awarded his family \u20b93.26 lakh plus 12% interest, but the Bombay High Court overturned the decision. The Supreme Court reinstated the award, holding that the early-morning commute directly linked the accident to his employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Implications for Workers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This judgment is expected to benefit employees across sectors\u2014especially shift workers, factory staff, and those required to travel at odd hours. It reinforces the EC Act as a <strong>beneficial legislation<\/strong> and aligns compensation laws to ensure that workers and their families are safeguarded from the economic consequences of work-related injuries and deaths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court has delivered a game-changing judgment affirming that employees injured or killed while commuting to or from work may be entitled to compensation under the Employees\u2019 Compensation Act, 1923 (EC Act), if there is a clear connection between the accident and their employment. The ruling, passed on July 29, 2025, by Justices Manoj [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":1298903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[8459,177],"class_list":["post-1298894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-compensation-law","tag-supreme-court"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Accidents While Going To Office Or Coming Back Covered Under Compensation Law - Supreme Court - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/accidents-while-going-to-office-or-coming-back-covered-under-compensation-law-supreme-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Accidents While Going To Office Or Coming Back Covered Under Compensation Law - Supreme Court - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Supreme Court has delivered a game-changing judgment affirming that employees injured or killed while commuting to or from work may be entitled to compensation under the Employees\u2019 Compensation Act, 1923 (EC Act), if there is a clear connection between the accident and their employment. 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