UNION OF INDIA Vs. DEENA T

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plea of the Railways in this appeal against the award of the Railway Claims Tribunal is that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger inasmuch as the ticket he possessed was one issued on 7-7-2010 from Varkala Railway Station, though he was travelling in the train that left from Varkala to Chennai on 8-7-2010. At the outset, we may record that earnest efforts are taken by the learned standing counsel for Railways by making reference to the Indian Railway Commercial Manual which, among other things, in Clause 239 provides that the tickets are available only for the day and train for which they are issued except when otherwise permitted; clause 209.1 of that Manual provides, inter alia, that tickets issued to passengers are available only from the date and for the period specified by the Railway Administration by which they are issued. Note (3) under Clause 209.2 provides that in all cases of advance booking the date of commencement of journey will be endorsed on each ticket, at the time of issue, in ink, as: "Journey to commence on.........." To buttress the arguments, the learned standing counsel for Railways has obtained two tickets from the local Railway Station in Ernakulam to demonstrate to us that when he purchased a ticket on 12-8-2012 for a journey to be performed on 15-8-2012 the date of issue of the ticket was shown as 12-8-2012 with the endorsement "JCO ON: 15-8-2012". The argument advanced is that the Railway tickets contain the endorsement ''JCO On" regarding the date on which the journey could commence.

(2.) He also made reference to the latest Commercial Circular Nos. 17 of 2009 and 37 of 2011 issued by the Railway Board which show that unreserved tickets issued through Unreserved Ticket System can be issued only on the same day if the journey involved is less than 200 kms. and those involving journey of 200 kms. and above, such tickets would be issued upto three days in advance excluding the day of journey.

(3.) Reverting to the facts of the case in hand, the Tribunal noted that the distance between the Railway Stations Varkala and Chennai is above 800 kms. It noticed that Ext R-1, DRM's report, discloses the admitted situation that the deceased was holding a II class journey ticket, the number and date of purchase of which are disclosed thereon and are recorded in the DRM's report. Perusing the lower court records, we see that the inquest report and other materials indicate that some currency and the ticket were available in the pocket of the pants worn by the deceased. The Tribunal did not accept the Railways' plea that the said ticket was an invalid ticket. For this, the Tribunal held that on the own admission of the Railways and on the basis of the evidence tendered by the applicant, the deceased has to be held as holding a journey ticket to travel in Train No. 2624, Trivandrum-Chennai Express on 8-7-2010 and there is nothing on record to accept the assertion made by the Railway that the journey ticket purchased on 7-7-2010 was invalid for making any journey on 8-7-2010, especially when the destination is more than 800 kms. The Tribunal accordingly held that the Railways failed to prove that the deceased was travelling with an invalid ticket.