Jharkhand High Court
Kalpana Pradhan vs Union Of India Through The General ... on 30 June, 2020
Equivalent citations: AIRONLINE 2020 JHA 358
Author: Kailash Prasad Deo
Bench: Kailash Prasad Deo
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
(Civil Miscellaneous Appellate Jurisdiction)
M.A. No. 579 of 2018
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Kalpana Pradhan, widow mother of deceased Raju Pradhan Resident of Village/Mohalla- Methopara, Vivekananda Pally, P.O. & P.S. Hatiara, Dist. North 24 Parganas- 700157 (West Bengal) ...... Appellant Versus Union of India through the General Manager, Eastern Railway, P.O. & P.S. Netaji Subash Chandrabosh Road, Kolkata ......Respondent
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CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KAILASH PRASAD DEO
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For the Appellant : Mr. Shashi Kant Thakur, Advocate
For the Respondent : Mr. Gautam Rakesh, Advocate
05/Dated: 30/06/2020
Heard, learned counsel for the parties.
The appellant has preferred the instant appeal as her claim application has been dismissed by the learned Railway claim Tribunal, Ranchi Bench, Ranchi vide order dated 20.07.2018 passed in Case No.OA(IIU)/RNC/32/2017. Learned counsel for the appellant, Mr. Shashi Kant Thakur has submitted that the learned Tribunal has dismissed the claim application on wrong finding contrary to the record and wrongly held that in the present case neither any affidavit has been filed stating the relevant facts nor any circumstantial evidence furnished by the applicant to establish that the deceased was a bona fide passenger and in absence of any evidence whatsoever-either direct or circumstantial-to establish the bonafide nature of the deceased, issue no.1 has been decided against the applicant/claimant. Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that this Court has been pleased to call for LCR in terms of order dated 08.08.2019 and as per the materials available on record particularly in deposition of AW-1, Kalpana Pradhan at paras 3, 4 and 8 of examination-in-chief, which are as follows:-
"3. That on the fateful day i.e. on 01.09.2016, my son was going to Howrah Jn. From Dhanbad Jn. by the train No.12340 DN Dhanbad- Howrah Coal-field Superfast Express train after purchasing a IInd Class Valid Rly journey ticket, he boarded in the general bogie of the said train as a bonafide passenger.
4. That the valid journey ticket from Dhanbad Jn. to Howrah Jn. Of my son has been lost due to in untoward incident.
8. That thereafter on information of the incident the Rail P.P. Kumar Dhubi [G.R.P.S. Dhanbad] registered a U.D. Case No.47 of 2016 dated 01.09.2016 and prepared a inquest report and after due Post-mortem and identification the police gave the dead body to his family members for final rites and rituals".
During cross-examination at paras 8 and 11, this witness has replied to the following questions:-
8- iz'u& oks Vsªu dk ;k=k fVdV dVk;k Fkk fd ugha ;s Hkh vkidks irk ugha gSa\ mÙkj& oks gesa Qksu ls crk;k Fkk ftuds ?kj esa dke djrk gS mlds ?kj esa Qksu ls crk;k fd fVdV dVk;s gSa vkSj Vsªu ls vk jgs gSa Vsªu esa cgqr HkhM+ gSA 11- iz'u& 'kiFki= ds iSjk&6 esa tks fy[ks gSa ;s ckr vkidks dkSu crk;k\ mÙkj& yM+dk gh crk;k Fkk Qksu ij fd ge Vsªu ls vk jgs gSa vkSj Vsªu esa cgqr HkhM+ gSA esjs ?kj -2- esa vkSj dksbZ ugha gS oks esjk ,dykSrk csVk FkkA Learned counsel for the appellant has placed reliance upon the judgment passed by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Union of India vs. Rina Devi, reported in 2019 (3) SCC 572 para 29 that "Initial burden will be on the claimant which can be discharged by filing an affidavit of the relevant facts and the burden will then shift on the Railways and the issue can be decided on the facts shown or the attending circumstances."
Learned counsel for the appellant has prayed to allow this appeal. Learned counsel for the respondent has submitted that the impugned award does not warrant any interference by this Court as ticket has not been found from the deceased nor made available on the record, but could not dispute the evidence of A.W-1 particularly at paras 3, 4, 8 of examination-in-chief and paras 8 and 11 of the cross-examination.
From perusal of the records, it appears that learned Tribunal has wrongly mentioned at page 22 i.e. internal page 3 of the impugned judgment that no affidavit was filed or no direct or circumstantial evidence was adduced. This Court has perused the LCR and found that learned Tribunal has given a perverse finding contrary to the materials brought on record, which has been verified by this Court from the LCR and found the contention of learned counsel for the appellant is correct.
The evidence of AW-1- Kalpana Pradhan is available in the Lower Court Records in page nos. 34-32 at paras 3, 4 and 8 of examination-in-chief and in page no.31 at paras 8 and 11 of cross-examination are relevant material which prove that the deceased- Raju Pradhan was a bona fide passenger in view of the judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Rina Devi (Supra). Under the aforesaid circumstance, the impugned judgment dated 20.07.2018 passed by learned Railway claim Tribunal, Ranchi Bench, Ranchi in Case No.OA(IIU)/RNC/32/2017 is hereby set aside.
Accordingly, the instant appeal is allowed.
The learned Tribunal is directed to indemnify amount of Rs.4,00,000/- with interest as the incident was of dated 01.09.2016 or Rs.8,00,000/- as per the new amended rules, which is applicable from 01.01.2017 whichever is higher, in favour of the claimant since it is benevolent legislation.
(Kailash Prasad Deo, J.) sandeep/R.S.-