P&H High Court Grants ₹8 Lakh Damages To Passenger Who Died In Accident On Railway Track
The Punjab & Haryana High Court has granted a compensation of of Rs.4 lakh along with interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of accident till the date of actual realization or Rs.8 lakh “whichever is higher.“
Justice Pankaj Jain said, “once it stands proved that deceased-Gaurav Kumar was holding a valid Monthly Seasonal Ticket (MST) on the given date even though last digit was wrongly mentioned in the claim petition, the Tribunal ought not have held him to be a bona fide passenger. Resultantly, the finding is reversed. The deceased is held to be bona fide passenger, holding a valid MST on the date of accident.”
The plea was filed challenging the Award passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, whereby the claim petition filed by the appellants seeking compensation on account of death of deceased- Gaurav Kumar in an untoward incident while travelling by Railways stands rejected.
The primary dispute relates to the deceased being a bona fide passenger. The claimants submitted that the deceased was travelling on Monthly Seasonal Ticket (MST), which is a valid ticket.
However, the ticket could not be recovered as the same was lost in the incident. The Tribunal disbelieved the story put forth by the claimants regarding lost of MST and further held that the claimants claimed that the deceased was travelling on MST No.X- 60782408, whereas as per records produced by railways authorities showing the list of MSTs issued for the relevant period, MST No.X-60782408 was issued in the name of one Harsh Sharma.
Counsel for the appellants submits that from the record produced by the Railways, it is evident that MST though was issued in the name of Harsh Sharma but entry prior thereto related to MST bearing No.X-60782405 relates to deceased-Gaurav Kumar.
He thus, submitted that from the records produced by the Railways itself, it stands proved that Gaurav Kumar was holding a valid MST on the date of accident and the claim should not be non suited merely for the reason that the last digit of the number was wrongly mentioned as 8 instead of 5.
After hearing the submissions, the Court accepted the petitioner’s submitted and also noted that there is no evidence to prove that there was any intention on the part of the deceased to suffer self inflicted injuries.
Hence, the Court reversed the order of Tribunal wherein it had rejected the claim and said that the Railways shall within a further period of 12 weeks deposit the entire compensation payable to the claimants in the bank accounts.
In view of failure of Railways to pay the compensation within the prescribed period of 12 weeks, the Railways shall be liable to pay interest @ 9% per annum, it added.
Mr. Ujval Mittal, Advocate for the appellants.
Mr. Amit Sharma, Senior Panel Counsel for the respondent-UOI.
Title: Ramchander Shukla and another v. Union of India through the General Manager,
