UNION OF INDIA Vs. PAPPU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE challenge by means of this First Appeal under Section 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 is to the impugned judgment of the Railway Claims Tribunal dated 29.5.2009 by which the claim of the parents of the deceased for compensation on account of the death of their son Khem Chand, a student aged 19 years was allowed.

(2.) THE facts of the case are that Sh. Khem Chand, son of the Respondents was travelling from New Delhi to Tundla by Brahamputra Express train No. 4056, and he died on account of an untoward incident on account of falling from the train. The deceased was going to Tundla in order to attend the engagement ceremony of his friend. The basic case of the Respondents/claimants was that on account of heavy rush in the compartment of the Brahamputra Express train No. 4056, and on account of the jerk/jolt, along with the push and pull of the passengers, the deceased fell down from the moving train at the old Delhi Railway Station and died on the spot.

(3.) THE Railway Claims Tribunal held that merely because the train ticket is not recovered from the body of the deceased, would not mean that in all cases the deceased would not be a bonafide passenger, inasmuch as, it depends on the facts of each case as to whether the deceased had purchased a ticket or not because in many cases tickets do get lost when there is death by an untoward incident. The relevant observations of the Railway Claims Tribunal through its Chairman B. Padmaraj reads as under: The non -production of the ticket is not in dispute. That does not, however, tantamount to saying that the deceased was a ticketless traveler. The applicants have clearly and unequivocally stated in their claim application that the second -class general train ticket was lost, against Column No. 7. Therefore, just because the train ticket has not been produced, could not necessarily lead to the conclusion that the deceased had boarded the train unauthorizedly or was travelling without a ticket or was a trespasser. The fact that the deceased had fallen off the train and his body was recovered from the track in an injured condition after the incident and transported to the railway station, and thereafter subjected to postmortem, clearly shows that the dead body of the deceased was handled at various stages by different agencies. The loss of the train ticket I the course of the recovery of the dead body of the deceased from the site of the incident, transportation and postmortem and other procedures can well be explained and understood. In this connection a reference may be made to a decision of the Rajasthan High Court in the case of Union of India V/s. Hari Naresh Gupta reported in 2008 ACJ 822 wherein it is observed as under: During the course of travelling and especially after he meets with an accident, the body of the deceased is transported and is transferred on various occasions. During the period of alleged incident and the discovery of the body, many things m ay transpire and the ticket may be lost, but unknown to others. Therefore, in case, the ticket is lost, it would be almost impossible for the claimants, who are the members of the bereaved family, to establish that the deceased was travelling with a valid ticket. It has been further observed therein as under: Considering the fact that Section 124 and Section 124 -A of the Act are social beneficial piece of legislation, by placing the burden of proof on the claimants, the benefit of these two beneficiary provisions would be denied to the claimants. An interpretation of the law, which dilutes the very purpose of a provision, should be shunned. Therefore, examined from any angle, it is clear that the burden of proving the fact that the deceased was a bonafide passenger or not, lies on the Railway Administration and not on the claimants. The above observations made by the Rajasthan High Court are equally applicable to the facts and circumstances of this case. Moreover, apart from the specific assertion made in the claim application, AW1 has stated on affidavit that on 17.4.2008, his son, deceased Khem Chand, aged about 19 years, after purchasing and having a valid second -class train ticket, was travelling by the train bearing No. 4056 called Brahmapurtra Express, for his journey from Delhi Junction to Tundla railway station. There is no cross -examination to AW1 on this point. (Underlining added).