Madras High Court
Maleshwari vs The Union Of India Owning on 26 March, 2021
Author: S.M.Subramaniam
Bench: S.M.Subramaniam
C.M.A.No.2429 of 2019
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 26-03-2021
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE S.M.SUBRAMANIAM
C.M.A.No.2429 of 2019
Maleshwari .. Appellant
Vs.
The Union of India Owning
Southern Railway rep. by
its General Manager,
Chennai-600 003. .. Respondent
Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is filed under Section 23 of the
Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1989 against the judgment and decree
dated 30.06.2017 made in O.A. (II-U) No.96 of 2016 on the file of the
Railway Claims Tribunal, Chennai Bench.
For Appellant : Ms.Selvi Rajesh
For Respondent : Mr.M.Vijay Anand
1/8
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/
C.M.A.No.2429 of 2019
JUDGMENT
The judgment dated 30.06.2017 passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Chennai Bench in OA (II-U) No.96 of 2016, is under challenge in the present Civil Miscellaneous Appeal.
2. The claimant is the appellant and the claim petition was filed based on the facts as narrated in the claim petition, which read as under:-
“The deceased was working in a Poultry Farm at Chennai. After visiting his house at Virudunagar on 03.09.2014 and to return for his job, he came to Virudunagar Railway Station along with his brother Venkatesh and procured an ordinary ticket for him to travel from Virudunagar Junction to Chennai Egmore in Ticket No.536268746 and travelled in Train No.12662, Pothigai Express while the train came in between Kodai Road – Ambaturai Railway Stations due to high speed, heavy crowd, jerk and jolt of the train, the deceased accidentally fell down from the 2/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ C.M.A.No.2429 of 2019 running train at KM 447/400-500 and sustained head injury and died on the spot. The claimants crave leave of this Hon'ble Tribunal to read the Postmortem Certificate as part and parcel of this claim petition.
Further, the FIR, Inquest Report and the Final Report clearly reveal that the death of the deceased is due to unexpected fall from the running train and hence it is an untoward Railway incident and there are no other reasons to suspect the death of the deceased.”
3. The respondent-Railway disputed the claim mainly on the ground that the deceased was not possessing a valid journey ticket and therefore, the claim petition cannot be considered.
4. The Railway Tribunal also formed an opinion that the journey ticket was not produced nor it was established that the deceased was a bona fide passenger and accordingly, rejected the application.
5. Perusal of the records reveal that the Station Master 3/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ C.M.A.No.2429 of 2019 Reported the untoward incident before the Police Station and the FIR was registered. The co-passengers, who travelled along with the deceased, also informed about the untoward incident of the deceased falling down from a running train.
6. The Inquest Report reveals that on 03.09.2014 night prior to 23.15 hours, the deceased, who travelled in the train, unexpectedly fell down from the train and died when the train was running between Kodai Road and Ambathurai Railway Stations at KM 447/400-500 and the inquest on the dead body of the deceased was conducted at the place of occurrence on 04.09.2014.
7. The Final Report also confirms that the death occurred due to untoward incident. It is stated in the Final Report that there was a crowd in the train and the deceased travelled by sitting in the steps near the entrance of the compartment and due to the speed of the train during the journey unexpectedly without his knowledge, he slept enjoying the cool breeze came from outside and when the train was running at the 4/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ C.M.A.No.2429 of 2019 place of occurrence between Kodai Road and Ambathurai Railway Stations at KM 447/400-500, unexpectedly fallen down from the running train, sustained severe injuries and died on the spot.
8. The DRM Report also reveals that the deceased had travelled in the train was sitting on the foot-board, without possessing a valid journey ticket, fallen down from the running train. However, the Inquest Report states that the deceased was not holding a valid journey ticket, but his travelling in the train was admitted and the untoward incident occurred due to falling down from the train was also established.
9. This Court is of an opinion that once an untoward incident is established and the death occurred due to falling down from the running train and if the journey ticket was not retrieved, the burden of proof must be shifted on the Railway that the deceased passenger was not a bona fide passenger. However, there is every possibility that the journey ticket would have lost while the deceased falling down from the 5/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ C.M.A.No.2429 of 2019 running train or while taking the deceased to hospital or for postmortem or somewhere else.
10. Once the untoward incident is established and the death occurred due to falling down from the running train, then the non- availability of journey ticket cannot alone be a ground to reject the claim petition. In such circumstances, the onus lies on the Railway to establish that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger.
11. In the present case, the respondent-Railway has not established that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger. Contrarily, they held that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger due to non- availability of the jounrey ticket.
12. In this view of the matter, the Tribunal had committed an error in not considering the claim petition merely on the ground of non-retrieval of the journey ticket. Thus, the judgment and decree dated 30.06.2017 passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Chennai Bench in 6/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ C.M.A.No.2429 of 2019 OA (II-U) No.96 of 2016 is set aside and consequently CMA No.2429 of 2019 is allowed.
13. The appellant-claimant is entitled for compensation of Rs.8 lakhs along with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of passing of the Award. The respondent-Railway is directed to deposit the entire Award amount with accrued interest before the Railway Claims Tribunal, Chennai Bench, within a period of twelve weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment and on such deposit, being made, the appellant is permitted to withdraw the award amount by filing an appropriate application before the Tribunal and payments are to be made through RTGS.
14. With the above directions, CMA No.2429 of 2019 is allowed. However, there shall be no order as to costs.
26-03-2021 Index : Yes/No. Internet : Yes/No. Speaking Order/Non-Speaking Order Svn 7/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/ C.M.A.No.2429 of 2019 S.M.SUBRAMANIAM, J.
Svn To
1.The Railway Claims Tribunal, Chennai Bench.
2.The General Manager, Union of India Owning Southern Railway Chennai-600 003.
CMA No.2429 of 2019
26-03-2021 8/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/