Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Court decision

The Supreme Court's decision that even if an employee dies under the very nose of the employer due to heart attack, he should still establish causal relationship with the employment is one among a series of decisions that have gone against the interest of the working class.

Nobody could ever say with certainty whether the heart attack was not due to occupational hazards, particularly given the standards of nutrition and environment in which the worker works, in this case, the Thermal Plant. The benefit of doubt could have certainly been given to the worker and thereby the Supreme Court's deep concern for human values would have gone up. Hitherto, there have been path-breaking judgments but the present is a heart-rending one. It gives the impression of commoditisation of labour, which is not a healthy development of law.

N.G.R. Prasad,
Chennai

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