PYARE LAL ROY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner who is aggrieved by the death of Jagan Nath Prasad, seek to challenge the judgment passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh, dated 12.10.2001.

(2.) THE grouse of the petitioner is that after returning a finding that Jagan Nath Parsad, who was 22 years old on 2.12.2000 had, while travelling on a valid ticket on the Howrah-Amritsar Mail train No. 3005-UP, met with an accident near village Jeonpura between Sadhugarh and Sarai Banjara Railway Stations on Ambala-Ludhiana line near Sirhind in the claim for compensation filed by them under Section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act read with Section 124 of the Railways Act, 1989, a compensation of Rs. 2,04,000/- alone has been awarded. It was submitted that the Tribunal had, while delivering the judgment, lost sight of the fact that the compensation had to be calculated as per the provisions of the Railway Accidents and Untoward Incidents (Compensation) Rules, 1990 as amended by the Railway Accidents and Untoward Incidents (Compensation) Amendment Rules, 1997. According to these provisions, the petitioner is entitled to receive Rs. 4,00,000/- and to that extent the order cannot be sustained and has to be modified in a manner which enhances the compensation to Rs. 4,00,000/-.

(3.) IN view of the conceded position, the petition is accepted and the judgment of the Railway Claims Tribunal is modified to the extent indicated herein before. Besides, the aforesaid amount the claimant would be entitled to interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum. The payment shall be made within a period of three months from the date a certified copy of the order is supplied. Petition allowed.