RAJENDRAN M. Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant Rajendran was the claimant in O.A. No. 34 of 2002 before the Railway Claims Tribunal, Ernakulam. He claimed compensation because he was grievously injured in a railway accident. The accident has, in fact, led not only to his physical impairment but also to his loosing employment. Though the Tribunal awarded compensation through a judgment dated 01/04/2005, Rajendran felt it inadequate. So he has filed this appeal before us.

(2.) The facts in brief are that Rajendran, a driver in a Co - operative bank was all set to join his new employer, the Central Excise Department, on 24/06/2001 - with better salary and better career prospects. But before that, as fate would have it, he undertook a journey: On 22/06/2001, he boarded Mangalore - Chennai Mail at Vadakara to go to Chennai. On route, the train met with an accident. Rajendran, among many other passengers, suffered severe injuries: a fracture to the shaft of humerus, fracture to frontal bone on the left, and sprain in the right ankle. After many days' hospitalization, Rajendran remained an invalid with career - threatening disability.

(3.) On the blow his career received, Rajendran averred that he lost his job in the cooperative bank; he also lost his future employment as driver in the Central Excise Department, which he would have joined on 24th June, 2001 but for the accident.