From factory floors to courtrooms, justice finally reaches widows of ESIC workers
Panel holds deaths as ‘employment injury’, orders 90% wage pension with interest and compensation
Mohali, DPB ; After a long and painful journey that began on factory floors, moved through hospital corridors and was met with institutional denial, two widows have finally found justice in a courtroom. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Mohali, has directed the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), including its Regional Director, Chandigarh, and Branch Manager, Mohali, to release dependent benefits to the families of two deceased workers, along with interest and compensation.
The Commission ordered ESIC to pay a monthly dependent pension equivalent to 90 per cent of the deceased workers’ wages from the date of death, with interest at 9 per cent if paid within 30 days, failing which the amount will carry interest at 12 per cent. In addition, ESIC has been directed to pay Rs 35,000 as compensation in each case for mental agony, harassment and litigation expenses.
Advocate Jasbir Singh, who represented the widows and has been providing free legal aid to ESIC-insured workers for several years, told The Indian Express that both cases reflected a disturbing pattern where genuine employment injury claims were rejected despite complete documentation. In the first case, Ram Singh, an employee of M/s A & M Technologies, Mohali, fell seriously ill while on duty on October 30, 2021. He was taken to an ESI hospital and later referred to Indus Hospital, Mohali, where he died during treatment on October 31. Although the death was duly reported and all formalities were completed, ESIC refused to recognise it as an employment injury.
In the second case, Hari Shankar, who had been working with M/s Swani Rubber Industries, Mohali, since 1998, collapsed at the factory on March 16, 2021. He was first taken to the ESI Hospital, Mohali, and later shifted to Fortis Hospital after being denied a bed elsewhere. He died on March 18, yet ESIC again rejected the claim.
Allowing both complaints, Commission President S.K. Aggarwal observed that under Para 58(2) of the ESI (Central) Rules, 1950, dependents are entitled to benefits when an insured person dies due to an employment injury.
Speaking to Dawn Punjab , Bharti Devi (32), widow of Hari Shankar, said she belongs to Bihar and had moved to Mohali after marriage.“After my husband’s death, the responsibility of four young children fell entirely on me. I survived by doing daily-wage work wherever I could. This pension has finally given me some support and hope that I can raise my children with dignity,”she said.
Nirmala (54), wife of Late Ram Singh and a resident of Phase 5, Mohali, said she has no children and had depended entirely on her husband.“After his death, I had no idea what my future would be. With Advocate Jasbir Singh’s support I take this pension, I now feel I can live without stretching my hand before others,”she said, adding that she continues to serve at the PGI langar as she did with her husband.
