Rakesh was working as Joint Commissioner in Transport Department of a city. As a part of his job profile, among others, he was entrusted with the task of overseeing the control and functioning of City Transport Department. A case of strike by the drivers’ union of City Transport Department over the issue of compensation to a driver who died on duty while driving the bus came up before him for decision in the matter.
He gathered that the driver (deceased) was plying Bus No. 528 which passed through busy and congested roads of the city. It so happened that near an intersection on the way, there was an accident involving the bus and a car driven by a middle-aged man. It was found that there was altercation between the driver and the car driver. Heated arguments between them led to fight and the driver gave him a blow. Lot of passerbys had gathered and tried to intervene but without success. Eventually, both of them were badly injured and profusely bleeding and were taken to the nearby hospital. The driver succumbed to the injuries and could not be saved. The middle-aged driver’s condition was also critical but after a day, he recovered and was discharged. Police had immediately come at the spot of accident and FIR was registered. Police investigation revealed that the quarrel in question was started by the bus driver and he had resorted to physical violence. There was exchange of blows between them.
The City Transport Department management is considering of not giving any extra compensation to the driver’s (deceased) family. The family is very aggrieved, depressed and agitated against the discriminatory and non-sympathetic approach of the City Transport Department management. The bus driver (deceased) was 52 years of age, was survived by his wife and two school-college going daughters. He was the sole earner of the family. The City Transport Department workers’ union took up this case and when found no favourable response from the management, decided to go on strike. The union’s demand was two-fold. First was full extra compensation as given to other drivers who died on duty and secondly employment to one family member. The strike has continued for 10 days and the deadlock remains.
(a) What are the options available to Rakesh to meet the above situation? (b) Critically examine each of the options identified by Rakesh. (c) What are the ethical dilemmas being faced by Rakesh? (d) What course of action would Rakesh adopt to diffuse the above situation?
Approach · directive: “what / critically examine”
What it asks · (a) List Rakesh's options; (b) examine each critically; (c) name his ethical dilemmas; (d) decide a course of action that ends the strike.
The question has 4 parts — answer each
- (a) List the options available to Rakesh to meet the situation
- (b) Critically examine each of the options
- (c) Identify the ethical dilemmas Rakesh faces
- (d) Decide the course of action Rakesh should adopt to defuse the situation
Open with · Employees' Compensation Act, 1923, Section 3: the driver died on duty but in a fight he started; the family is blameless and the city faces a ten-day strike.
Cover
- Stakeholders: the deceased driver's wife and daughters, the union and workers, department management, commuters, the car driver and the government.
- (a)/(b) Grant full compensation and a job: humane and ends the strike, but rewards misconduct, sets a precedent and may breach rules. Deny everything: consistent with rules but harsh and prolongs the strike.
- (a)/(b) Middle course: pay all admissible dues (provident fund, gratuity, insurance, family pension) and an ex-gratia amount, consider compassionate employment under the rules, and refer the disputed 'extra' compensation to an independent committee.
- (a)/(b) Other options: conciliation or arbitration, which is fair and neutral; disciplinary or strike-breaking steps, which are coercive and counter-productive.
- (c) Dilemmas: compassion against rules and justice, equity to other drivers against the family's need, management authority against workers' rights, and public interest in transport against one individual's case.
- (d) Action: talk to the union and restore services; get the legal position checked; give dues and humane relief within rules; refer the disputed part to a committee; frame a compensation policy and conduct training.
Close with · Separate what the law owes from what compassion gives, through an open process: that ends the strike fairly and leaves a policy behind.
Add value (verified)
- Section 3(1), Employees' Compensation Act, 1923: the employer is liable for injury by accident arising out of and in the course of employment; the exemptions for drink, drugs or wilful disobedience apply only to injuries not resulting in death or permanent total disablement. The Employee's Compensation Act, 1923, Section 3 — Indian Kanoon ↗“(1) If personal injury is caused to an employee by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, his employer shall be liable to pay compensation in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter”
- Proviso (b) to Section 3(1), Employees' Compensation Act, 1923: the employer escapes liability for accidents attributable to the employee's drink, drugs or wilful disobedience only where the injury does not result in death or permanent total disablement. The Employee's Compensation Act, 1923, Section 3 — Indian Kanoon ↗“(b) in respect of any injury, not resulting in death or permanent total disablement caused by an accident which is directly attributable to (i) the employee having been at the time thereof under the influence of drink or drugs, or (ii) the wilful disobedience”
- Umesh Kumar Nagpal (1994), quoted in Canara Bank v M. Mahesh Kumar (Supreme Court, 15 May 2015): compassionate employment exists to help the family tide over a sudden crisis; death in harness alone does not entitle the family to a job. Canara Bank & Anr v M. Mahesh Kumar, Supreme Court of India, 15 May 2015 — Indian Kanoon ↗“The whole object of granting compassionate employment is thus to enable the family to tide over the sudden crisis. The object is not to give a member of such family a post much less a post for post held by the deceased. What is further, mere death of an employee in harness does not entitle his family to such source of livelihood.”
- Article 41: the State shall make effective provision for public assistance in unemployment, old age, sickness, disablement and other cases of undeserved want. Constitution of India, Article 41 — Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice ↗“make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.”
- Rawls: the least advantaged are not objects of charity or pity but those to whom reciprocity is owed as a matter of basic justice. John Rawls — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ↗““The least advantaged are not, if all goes well, the unfortunate and unlucky—objects of our charity and compassion, much less our pity—but those to whom reciprocity is owed as a matter of basic justice””
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2022, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 378 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
Under Section 3 of the Employees' Compensation Act, 1923, an employer pays for injury by accident "arising out of and in the course of" employment, and its fault-based exemptions do not cover deaths. Here a driver died on duty, but in a fight he started; his blameless family faces destitution and a ten-day strike has stopped the buses. Stakeholders: widow and daughters, union, management, commuters, the car driver and government.
(a) Options available and (b) their critical examination
| Option | Merit | Demerit |
|---|---|---|
| Concede both demands | Ends strike; humane | Rewards violence; unfair precedent |
| Refuse both | Consistent with police findings | Punishes blameless family; strike drags on |
| Middle path | Separates dues from disputed extras | May not fully satisfy the union |
- Middle path in detail: release admissible dues (provident fund, gratuity, insurance, family pension), add ex-gratia relief, consider compassionate appointment under the rules, refer the extra compensation to a committee.
- On the job demand: the Supreme Court holds that compassionate employment exists "to enable the family to tide over the sudden crisis"; death in harness alone confers no right.
- Conciliation or arbitration: neutral, though slower. Coercion restores buses briefly but poisons industrial relations.
(c) Ethical dilemmas Rakesh faces
- Compassion for the family against fairness to the rules and other drivers' families; deterring violence against punishing innocent dependants; management's authority against workers' rights; commuters' needs against one claim used as leverage.
- Justice, not charity: for Rawls, the least advantaged are those "to whom reciprocity is owed as a matter of basic justice".
(d) Course of action to defuse the situation
- Talk first: meet the union, acknowledge the family's grief, and secure resumption of services against a time-bound, transparent decision.
- Pay what is due now: undisputed dues and ex-gratia relief; examine compassionate appointment for the widow or an adult daughter on need. Article 41 asks the State to assist in "undeserved want", the family's plight.
- Decide the dispute fairly: a committee with union representation and a legal opinion on the Section 3 claim; conciliation if deadlock persists.
- Systemic fix: a written policy on on-duty deaths, including fault cases; road-rage training; a contributory welfare fund.
Rakesh must neither let compassion rewrite the rules nor let rules crush a blameless family; separating what law owes from what compassion gives ends the strike and leaves a fair policy.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.