Orissa High Court
Rama Das vs Union Of India on 8 October, 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
FAO NO. 389 OF 2020
Rama Das .... Appellant
Miss Deepali Mahapatra, Advocate
-versus-
Union of India .... Respondent
Mr. Dhanoj Kumar Sahoo,
Standing Counsel
for East Cost Railways
CORAM:
JUSTICE K.R.MOHAPATRA
ORDER
Order No. 08.10.2021
4. 1. This matter is taken up through hybrid mode.
2. This appeal is filed by the Claimant, who is the mother of
the deceased Asok Das, under Section 23 of the Railway Claims
Tribunal Act, 1987 (for short 'the Act, 1987') being aggrieved by
the judgment and award dated 27th January, 2020 passed by the
Railway Claims Tribunal, Bhubaneswar Bench, Bhubaneswar
(for short, 'the Tribunal') in OA No.21 of 2017 assailing the
mode of payment of compensation amount.
3. At the outset, learned counsel for the parties submit that
the legal issue involved in this appeal is similar to FAO No.264
of 2020 and batch of appeals disposed of by this Court vide
judgment dated 9th September, 2021 and the present appeal may
be disposed of in the light of the said judgment.
4. Mr. Sahoo, learned Standing Counsel for the Railways-
Respondent, however, submits that although the facts and law
involved in this case is similar, but Claimant should approach
learned Tribunal by filing appropriate application for variation in
the condition and mode of payment of the compensation amount.
// 2 //
In that event, learned Tribunal will be in a position to pass
necessary orders on her application.
5. Miss Mahapatra, learned counsel for the Appellant
submits that since Railways could not produce any material
before the learned Tribunal to justify restriction in disbursement
of compensation, remittance of the matter to learned Tribunal
will be an empty formality only and thereby the Claimant will be
highly prejudiced. It appears from the impugned award that
learned Tribunal has not assigned any reason for not disbursing
the entire awarded amount in favour of the Claimant instead of
directing a major portion to be deposited in a fixed deposit
scheme. It appears that the Claimant/Appellant being the mother
of the deceased-Asok Das is major and does not have either any
physical or mental disability. As such, the case of the Appellant
is squarely covered by the ratio decided in the aforesaid batch of
appeals.
6. Hence, this Appeal is disposed of in terms of the
judgment and order passed on 9th September, 2021 by this Court,
as aforesaid, operative portion of which is quoted herein below
for reference and convenience of the parties.
"18. In that view of the matter, all the appeals are
allowed and learned Tribunal is directed to disburse
the awarded amount by liquidating the fixed deposits, if
any, to the claimants on proper identification, as
expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of
one month from the date of filing of an application
along with certified copy of this order following due
procedure of law. In the circumstances, there shall be
no order as to cost."
7. Accordingly, it is directed that learned Tribunal shall
disburse the awarded amount by liquidating the fixed deposits, if
any, to the Claimant on proper identification, as expeditiously as
// 3 //
possible preferably within a period of one month from the date of
filing of an application along with certified copy of this order
following due procedure of law. The Claimant/Appellant is
directed to submit her A/c details of any nationalized bank as per
the requirement along with the application form for disbursal of
the compensation amount, as aforesaid.
Urgent certified copy of this order be granted on proper
application.
( K.R. Mohapatra)
Judge
bks
