VIJAYASANKAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE tragedy which visited a young bachelor in his twenties was so devastating that he turned into a paraplegic in a trice. He sustained an injury on his "conus medullaris" (inner portion of spinal cord at the lumbar region) in a fall from a stationary train and he is afflicted with what the doctors in Apollo Hospital (Madras) described as "meningocele". He claimed compensation from the Railway administration, but the Railway Claims Tribunal (for short 'the Claims Tribunal') dismissed his application on the ground that it has no jurisdiction to entertain it. This appeal is filed by him under Sec. 23 of the Railways Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 (for short 'the Claims Tribunal Act') The tragic journey of the appellant was on 26 -7 -1988. He boarded the train (Mangalore - Madras mail) at Calicut with his destination as Pattambi. As he was alighting from the train when it reached Pattambi railway station, he slipped down from the train as there was a jolt or jerk and fell into the space beneath the platform and got jammed between. He was carried to the Government hospital, Pattambi and therefrom to different hospitals situated in Kerala and outside. He is now practically an immovable living person and seems to be so for the rest of his life. He claimed compensation from the respondent in a sum of two lakhs rupees.

(2.) RESPONDENT admitted that appellant fell down from the train, but contended that there was no jerk to the train. His fall was attributed to his own negligence.

(3.) CLAIMS Tribunal took the view that appellant's fall from the train was not due to any "accident to a train" as envisaged in Sec. 124 of the Railways Act, 1989 (for short 'the Railways Act') and hence the Claims Tribunal had no jurisdiction to entertain the application. In order to maintain an application under Sec. 125 of the Railways Act before the Claims Tribunal, the applicant should have sustained the injury in an "accident to a train". As per Sec. 123 of the Railways Act accident means "an accident of the nature described in Sec. 124 of the Railways Act." The said description is the following: