DECISION This Appeal under section 30 of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923, seeks to impugn an order, dated 9th July, 1978, by the Commis--sioner for Workmen's Compensation, East Karachi, awarding compensation of an amount of Rs. 15,000 to the widow of an employee of the appellant, the Malir Cantonment Board, who is stated to have died a natural death on 19th February, 1978.
2. I have gone through the record of the case and am disturbed to find that the learned Commissioner has disregarded important norms for the adjudication of claims. Although the claim was made on account of death, the Death Certificate of Challa, the employee in respect of whom the claim was made, was not filed and does not appear on the record of the learned Commissioner. Further more, neither a Succession Certificate nor other document was filed with the claim in support of the contention that Mst. Hatti was a widow of deceased Challa and she was his sole surviving heir. Finally, it may be mentioned that Matti herself did not file or sign the application for compensation made to the learned Commissioner. The application was made and was signed by one Rustom Khan who claims to be an Attorney of the widow. How--ever, no power of Attorney or Letter Authority from the widow was pro--duced. At no time, the widow made an appearance before the Commis--sioner for submitting the application. There is thus no evidence to show that the claim in fact was preferred by or at the instance of the widow.
3. The Appeal would have succeeded on any of the above grounds, but there is further substantial legal ground upon which the Appeal has to be allowed. It was submitted by Mr. Syed Hamid Ali, the learned counsel for the appellant that though the compensation has been awarded by the learned Commissioner under Standing Order 10(B) he seems to have completely ignored the fact that neither the Standing Orders are appli--cable to the appellant nor the Malir Cantonment Board is a Commercial or Industrial Establishment, so that its workmen may be entitled to the benefits of Standing Order 10(B) or the other Standing Orders. Subsec--tion (4) of section 1 of the West Pakistan Industrial and Commercial Employment (Standing Orders) Ordinance, 1968, provides that the pro--visions of the said Ordinance will apply to Industrial and Commercial Establishments.
Further more, the first proviso to the said subsection bars the application of the said Ordinance, including the Standing Orders to such Industrial and Commercial Establishments carried on by or under the authority of the Government, where Statutory Rules of Service, Con duct or Discipline are applicable to the workmen employed therein. The Cantonment Board does hot fall within the connotation of Industrial Establishment or Commercial Establishment as defined in the said Ordi-- nance. As such, the provisions of the Ordinance, including the Standing Orders, cannot be made applicable to the Malir Cantonment Board. In applying the provisions of the Standing Orders to the said Cantonment Board, I regret to state that the, learned Commissioner has completely misguided himself. Even if the Malir Cantonment Board had somehow come within the ambit of the definition of Industrial Establishment or Commercial Establishment as contained in the said Ordinance by reason of any industrial or commercial activity carried on by it, then also the said Ordinance and Standing Orders would not have been applicable to its employees by reasons of the fact that Statutory Rules of Service under the Cantonment Act; 1924, are applicable to them.
4. This Appeal is being decided without the benefit of hearing the arguments of Mr. Kohistani, the learned Representative of the respon--dent, who has remained absent without intimation. He was present on the last hearing and has noted on the Case Diary the fact that the next hearing of the case was fixed for 29th May, 1979. Perhaps, he was well aware of the weakness of his case and has, therefore, advisedly chosen to remain absent.
5. For the reasons stated above, I would set aside the order of the learned Commissioner and allow the Appeal.