LATA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave Granted.

(2.) This appeal challenges the concurrent dismissal of a claim for compensation filed by the appellant as the wife of the deceased namely Chandrakant Thakkar, by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Bhopal Bench [ Claim Application Number-OA-IIu/BPL/163/2016] (RCT) and the High Court of Madhya Pradesh (Principal seat at Jabalpur) [ Misc. Appeal 5861 of 2019]. The deceased was enroute from Raipur to Ahmedabad in Train No.12834 Ahmedabad-Howrah Mail on 28/11/2015 when he fell from a running train somewhere in the Khandbada-Khatgaon sec. and died instantaneously due to the injuries. A claim petition was filed under the provisions of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 seeking Rs.4,00,000.00 with 18% interest from the date of filing of the application, i.e., 18/3/2016. It was averred that the luggage of the deceased, which was misplaced and untraceable, contained the ticket for the journey. The appellant in her affidavit had made similar statements alleging that the deceased was a bona fide passenger and was travelling to Ahmedabad, for business purposes. The wallet of the deceased, recovered by the police contained information of his son Brijesh, who was informed about the incident, but the ticket was not there in the purse.

(3.) The RCT denied the claim since it was not established that the deceased was a bona fide passenger. As per the Tribunal, though the accident qualified as an "untoward incident " within the meaning of Sec. 123(c)(2) of the Railway Act 1989 [1989 Act] but since the bona fides could not be established, compensation was denied. The High Court in terms of judgment dtd. 3/1/2024 agreed with the findings of the Tribunal, observing that in the absence of any recovery of the belongings of the deceased, the claim had to be rejected. There was an inconsistency between her statement and the facts pleaded in the claim petition about the date of travel of the deceased. She, in her cross examination said that the deceased had boarded the train on 26th November, and information of his death was received on 27th November, however, in the claim petition, the date of journey mentioned is 28th November.