Dear Vishwanath,
The following conditions need to be considered for eligibility for payment of compention under the Employees Compensation Act.
1. There should be an accident.
2. The accident should have resulted in a personal injury to the employee.
3. The accident should have happened in the course and out of employment.
In the case cited by you none of the 3 conditions apply so the question of compensation is ruled out.
For your information I also cite the following that will be relevant to you (not applicable to the case cited by you)
There is also a Theory of Notional Extension in the Act that states that if an Employee is commuting to the place of work and dies then also it is deemed that he is in the course of employment, but here the mode of commutation should be such that that it was the only mode of commutation and the Geographical location of the place was such that he could not have travelled by any other mode of transport.
For your information there is a Personal Accident Policy (not statutory) that provides cover to the employees not covered under the Employees compensation act, if the company covers its employees under the PA policy the benefits are similar to the Employees Compensation Act. But the difference is the Policy is payable by the respective Insurance Company instead of the Company itself. The unique feature of the PA policy is, it is 24 hours worldwide for any type of accident that results in loss of earning capacity of the workman. Suppose the employee breaks his limb in his house while climbing down from the stairs and suffers loss of earning for a brief spell then a Weekly benefit is payable to the employee, subject to 1% of the sum assured or a specified sum (If my memory is right it is Rs.3000/- per week) whichever is lower. This is a wonderful policy that ensures payment as stipulated above for the period the employee is on Loss of Pay during the duration of accident.
M.V.KANNAN