HANSRAJ (SINCE DECEASED) Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) No one appears for the respondent in spite of service. By this first appeal under section 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 the appellants/claimants impugn the order of the Railway Claims Tribunal dated 19.4.2017, by which the Railway Claims Tribunal has dismissed the claim petition by holding that complaint is abated on account of death pendente lite of the original claimant. Impugned order dated 19.4.2017 reads as under:-

(2.) The subject claim petition was filed before the Railway Claims Tribunal on account of injuries suffered by late Sh. Hans Raj. Sh. Hans Raj was alive when the claim petition was filed and which was filed for seeking compensation on account of injuries suffered in the train accident which is defined as an "untoward incident" under section 123(c) of the Railways Act, 1989 and which entitles the injured to compensation on account of an untoward incident as per Section 124-A of the Railways Act.

(3.) In a case such as the present even if injured dies during the pendency of the proceedings, then right to sue survives because the right to sue in favour of the deceased Sh. Hans Raj crystallizes when the claim petition was filed. Right to sue is crystallized because entitlement of the deceased Sh. Hans Raj was for compensation and an entitlement to compensation being an entitlement to moneys cannot abate on the death of the claimant in the claim petition. Railway Claims Tribunal has therefore clearly erred in passing the impugned order holding that the claim petition stood abated.