SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAY Vs. E. RAMAMOHAN RAO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) RESPONDENT Nos. 1 and 2 filed O.A.A. No. 70 of 1998, before the Railway Claims Tribunal, Secunderabad Bench, pleading that their son, by name, Sridhar (hereinafter referred to as "the deceased") was scheduled to attend an interview at the Visakhapatnam Naval Base on 3.11.1997, and for that purpose, he along with his grand mother, boarded Train No. 471, Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam passenger on 1.11.1997 at Vijayawada. They stated that, he fell down from the train at Bayyavaram Railway Station near Tuni, and died. They claimed compensation by alleging that the incident is the result of an accidental fall.

(2.) THE appellant filed a written statement denying its liability. It was stated that there was nothing to disclose that the death of the deceased occurred on account of an accidental fall from the train, and that, at any rate, the death occurred on account of negligence on the part of the deceased.

(3.) LEARNED Counsel for the appellant submits that except the self serving statements of the respondents, there is nothing on record to disclose that the deceased died on account of an accidental fall, and even A.W. 2, the alleged fellow passenger, did not speak about the way in which the accident is said to have taken place. He also submits that the deceased cannot be treated as a bona fide passenger since no ticket was recovered from his dead body.