M.A. No. 1781/03
29.06.2010
Appellants by Shri A.K. Pathak, Advocate.
Respondent by Shri Meghnath Banerjee, Advocate.
The present appeal is preferred by the
appellants/claimants under Section 23 of the Railway
Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 challenging the judgment dated
9.5.03 passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal in Claim
Case No. O.A. No. 19/2000 wherein the claim of the
appellants/claimants has been rejected.
The facts leading to the present case are that
deceased Bisahim Bai, wife of Heeralal Sahoo and mother
of Sewak Ram Sahoo died at Raigarh station as a result of
an untoward incident on 17.5.99 when she was trying to
board 355 Up Jharsuguda-Gondia passenger train at about
9.00 am, she fell down as a result of which she received
severe injuries and ultimately she expired. The claims
Tribunal has rejected the application on the ground that
appellants/claimants have failed to prove the valid railway
ticket with the deceased. She was not treated to be a
bonafide passenger in the absence of any ticket and thus
the claim is rejected.
On behalf of the appellants/claimants, reliance is
placed on ‘Naksha Panchayatnama’ (Ex. A/2) which was
proved before the tribunal which does not show that
search was taken of luggage and no ticket was found. So
far as Naksha Panchayatnama (Inquest) dated 17.5.99 is
concerned, in the same also, nothing has been stated by
the police that no ticket was found with the deceased. In
the present case, a report dated 1.4.2000, a document
filed and not proved before the tribunal prepared by GRP
Thana, Raigarh only states that on search, no valid ticket
was found with the deceased and on that basis, the claims
tribunal rejected the claim.
On the basis of the same,it is to be seen that when
immediately the document i.e. Naksha Panchyatnama
(Inquest) was prepared on 17.5.99 it does not show that
search was taken of the luggage and no valid ticket was
found. Similarly, the document Ex. A/2 filed by the
Railway also does not show that no ticket was found.
In the present case, no witness has been examined
by the railway to prove that after when the search was
done, no ticket was found with the deceased and the
deceased was travelling in the train without there being
any valid ticket.
On the basis of the documents and on the basis of
the discussion as aforesaid, I am of the view that the
Railway Administration failed to prove that deceased was
travelling without there being any valid ticket. On the
contrary, the statement of Sewak Ram who has
specifically stated that he purchased the ticket from
Rajgarh and the same was handed over to the deceased
and then he left the station before arrival of the train. On
the basis of the same, there was no material before the
claims tribunal that the deceased was not having a valid
ticket with her and the onus lies on the Railways that no
valid ticket was purchased. The documents relied upon by
the railways dated 17.5.99 does not show that after the
search of the luggage and also of the deceased, no ticket
was found. Ultimately, the said fact is mentioned by the
police in its report dated 1.4.2000 which has been
prepared near about 11 months after the date of accident
and thus no reliance can be placed on such documents.
In view of the aforesaid, I am of the view that the
tribunal was not justified in dismissing the claim and
accordingly, I am inclined to set aside the award passed
by the tribunal and further directed the railway
administration to pay compensation to the extent of Rs.4
lacs @ 6% in view of notification published in Gazette of
India (Extraordinary) Part II, Section 3(i) dated 7th June,
1990, from the date the application was preferred. The
amount of compensation along with interest shall be paid
within a period of 60 days from today.
Appeal stands allowed.
(R.K. Gupta)
Judge
rao