N.Chinna Ramaiah vs The Union Of India Owning
2021 Latest Caselaw 6364 Mad

Citation : 2021 Latest Caselaw 6364 Mad
Judgement Date : 10 March, 2021

Madras High Court

N.Chinna Ramaiah vs The Union Of India Owning on 10 March, 2021

                                                                                  C.M.A.No.3544 of 2017

                              IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

                                               DATED : 10.03.2021

                                                      CORAM

                            THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE S.M.SUBRAMANIAM

                                             C.M.A.No.3544 of 2017
                                                      and
                                             C.M.P.No.11548 of 2016

                      1.N.Chinna Ramaiah
                      2.Mrs.N.Sarojanamma                                           ..Appellants

                                                          Vs.

                      The Union of India owning,
                      South Central Railway,
                      Rep.by its General Manager,
                      Secunderabad.                                                 ..Respondent

                      Prayer : Civil Miscellaneous Appeal filed under Section 23 of Railway
                      Claims Tribunal Act, against the judgment dated 07.10.2015 made in
                      O.A.(II-U) No168 of 2014 by the Hon'ble Railway Claims Tribunal,
                      Chennai Bench.


                                  For Appellants      :         Mr.R.Sekaran
                                  For Respondent      :         M/s.T.P.Savitha



                                                 JUDGMENT

The order dated 07.10.2015 passed in O.A.(II-U) No168 of 2014

is under challenge in the present Civil Miscellaneous Appeal. http://www.judis.nic.in

C.M.A.No.3544 of 2017

2. The claimants are the appellants and the Claim Petition was

filed, seeking compensation under the Railways Act on the ground that

the deceased was a cooli worker and used to travel by train from Nellore

to Chennai. That on 23.06.2013, the deceased, in order to go to Chennai

for Cooli work, left his house. The applicants came to know from the

Nellore Railway Police that the deceased, while travelling in any one of

the train, prior to 11.00 hrs of 23.06.2013, when the train was running

between Nellore and Vedayapalem Railway Stations, due to rush, speed,

jerk and jolt of the train, accidentally fell down from the running train,

suffered 1) grievous injury on the right side of forehead, 2) right

shoulder fractured, 3) aberration on right knee and on the back and died

at the place of occurrence. It was an untoward incident. The second class

ticket purchased by the deceased for his travel from Nellore to Chennai

was said to have been lost at the time of accident and the same could not

be traced by the police authorities.

3. The Tribunal adjudicated the issues with reference to the

documents and evidences. The Tribunal considered Exh.A1/Inquest

Report, Exh.A2 and the Exh.A3. As per the opinion of the Doctor http://www.judis.nic.in

C.M.A.No.3544 of 2017

concerned, the cause of the death due to “Shock and Hemorrahage due

to head injury” and approximate time of death was “between 1 to 2 days

prior to PME”, which was conducted on 24.06.2013 and completed at

12.00 p.m.

4. The Railway Tribunal considered the deposition of

Shri.P.Lokanadham. His deposition states that the deceased on

23.06.2013, travelled from Nellore to Chennai. He came to know about

the incident from newspaper. He saw the dead body at Government

Hospital, Nellore. No articles were handed over to the witnesses by the

Police. It is stated that the deceased left home at 2.30 or 3 p.m on the

day of incident. In this context, the Railway Authorities conducted a

detailed enquiry and DRM Report concluded with the following

observations:

“IPF/NLR held statutory enquiry into the incident and submitted his report. During the enquiry, the key man stated that on 23.06.2013, he noticed a male dead body in between two rails of up line track at Km No.171/27-29 in between Nellore-Vedyapalem Railway Stations and informed to SM/VDE. On information GRP reached the spot and conducted inquest and the

http://www.judis.nic.in deceased was not in possession of railway journey ticket

C.M.A.No.3544 of 2017

and also opined that the deceased might have fallen from any unknown train passed on up line.

SSE/P.Way/NLR issued a certificate stated that there were no jerks & jolts reported at Km No.171/27-29 between NLR-VDE railway stations on 23.06.2013. As such the cause of incident may be due to personal negligence and unsafe travelling by the deceased, hence railway administration is not responsible for the alleged mishap”

5. The DRM Report finally concluded that the conclusion, which

reads as under:

“The enquiries reveals that the deceased was first detected in middle of two rails up line track by the on duty Key Man, and GRP authorities inquest report also speaks the version of the Key Man who noticed. While conducting inquest in presence of two mediators by the RPHC.675/GRP/Nellore the deceased did not have in possession of the Railway journey ticket. The applicants alleged in the claim application that the deceased purchased railway journey ticket at Nellore for go to Chennai, it is not believable and there is no eye witness about the purchased the ticket by the deceased. The probable cause of death of the deceased expressed in the inquest by the GRP is contradictory. The circumstances http://www.judis.nic.in

C.M.A.No.3544 of 2017

of evidence available about the lying of the deceased in middle of the two rails of up line track which speaks might have committed a suicide by the deceased. The RPF could not witness the inquest.”

6. In view of the fact that the untoward incident was not

established and further, the claimants could not able to prove that the

deceased was a bonafide passenger, the Claim Petition was rejected. This

apart, the DRM Report also enumerates that the probable cause of the

death of the deceased is a case of Suicide. In this regard, the manner, in

which, the body was lying in the Railway track, was also considered by

the Tribunal in Paragraph 14 of the judgment, which reads as under:

“14. Two more important aspects which have to be noticed are that as per the deposition of AW-1, the deceased left home at 2.30 or 3 p.m. Wile deceased's body was located by Key man, Unit No.6 before 11.00 hrs which is so evident from the message of Dy.SS/NLR and further FIR was also registered at 13.00 hrs. Furthermore, the body was located “in between 2 rails of up line track at Km.171/27-29”. If a person falls out of a general compartment as the deceased would have travelled to, if any, the body could not have been located or fall in between two rails of up line track & it would fall http://www.judis.nic.in either right or left side of the track. Thus, it is quite

C.M.A.No.3544 of 2017

evident that it was not a case of fall from the train, as was projected. This aspect have a great bearing upon the findings in the present case. It has been the consistent case of the railway and of the persons who had seen the body whether it was a Keyman, GRP or otherwise that body was located in between two rails of Up line track.”

7. In view of the facts and circumstances, this Court do not find

any perversity or infirmity as such in respect of the order passed and

accordingly, the order dated 07.10.2015 passed in O.A.(II-U) No168 of

2014 stands confirmed and the Civil Miscellaneous Appeal in

C.M.A.No.3544 of 2017 is dismissed. No costs.