BALA DEVI AND ANOTHER Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal under Section 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 (for short, '1987 Act') filed by the parents of the deceased, is directed against the order of the Railway Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh (for short 'the Tribunal') dated 03.02.2016.

(2.) The Tribunal has rejected the claim by holding under issue No.1 that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger as the ticket bearing No.32624073 dated 20.01.2014 was not recovered by the police anywhere. The same had neither been produced by any relative or any person to the police nor had been attested by them. The statement given to the police and deposition in the Court were stated to be contradictory to each other and, therefore, the authenticity of the ticket was seriously questioned. Similarly, on issue No.2 whether the incident came within the ambit of Section 123 (c) (2) of the Railways Act, 1989 (for short '1989 Act') of an untoward accident and the same was also answered against the appellants/claimants on the ground that the deceased had fallen down from some train and he had not yet started his journey as a passenger. Issue No.3 that whether the parents of the deceased were competent to file a claim was held in their favour by holding that the parents were dependents of the deceased. Accordingly, on issue No.4, the relief was denied for a sum of Rs. 4 lakhs on the ground that the bonafide passenger status of the deceased having been doubted under Section 2 (29) and the case did not fall within the ambit of Section 123 (c) (2) of the 1989 Act.

(3.) After hearing arguments of the counsel for the parties and going through the record of the Tribunal, this Court is of the opinion that the appeal is liable to be allowed for the reasons given below.