MUMBAI, Nov. 17 -- The Bombay High Court recently overturned an order granting compensation to the family of a bus driver who died of cardiac arrest, ruling that there was no evidence connecting his death to work-related stress or duties. Justice S M Modak, in a judgment pronounced on November 14, held that the Employees' Compensation Commissioner had erred in concluding that the driver's death arose out of his employment, merely because he was found inside his employer's bus. The deceased, Brijlal Yadav, a temporary driver engaged by M/s Arjun Travels, was found dead inside the company's bus at Kurla on December 16, 2021. Medical records established that he died of a coronary heart disease. The court emphasised that under Section 3 of the Employees' Compensation Act, a claimant must prove a "causal connection" between the employment and the injury or death. "There is absolutely no evidence to infer that driving or any nature of duty has accelerated the death," the bench said. The court noted that Yadav had last signed the muster roll on December 15, 2021, and was not assigned to drive on the day he died. No material showed that he had performed any duty or experienced work-related strain that could have triggered the cardiac event. While the judge accepted that Yadav entered the bus at some point before dawn, he held that this fact alone could not establish a nexus between employment and death. "Just because death is caused during the course of employment, it does not mean that the nature of work is the sole cause for the death," the judgment said. The Employees' Compensation Commissioner had held that Yadav "was on duty inside" the bus and therefore his death was compensable. Calling this conclusion "incorrect" and "perverse," the court held that there was no foundation to conclude that the cardiac arrest stemmed from work-related stress. Justice Modak also disagreed with the view, taken in another case relied on by the commissioner, that the burden lies on the employer to prove the death was not caused by stress. That approach, he said, was not supported by evidence or by the statutory scheme. Setting aside the Commissioner's 2024 order, the high court dismissed the compensation claim. However, during the hearing, the employer agreed to permit the widow and children to withdraw Rs.5 lakh from the amount they had earlier deposited before the Commissioner as a humanitarian gesture. The rest, along with accrued interest, will be returned to the employer by the commissioner....