Orissa High Court
Mahendra Sahu And Another vs P.O. on 8 October, 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
FAO NO. 399 OF 2020
Mahendra Sahu and another .... Appellants
Mr. Dhananjaya Mund, Advocate
-versus-
P.O., Railway Claims Tribunal, .... Respondents
Bhubaneswar and another
Mr. Dhanoj Kumar Sahoo,
Standing Counsel
for East Cost Railways
(For Respondent No.2)
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 Claimants, who are father and
mother of the deceased Pankaj Sahu, under Section 23 of the
Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 (for short 'the Act, 1987')
being aggrieved by the judgment and award dated 10th February,
2020 passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Bhubaneswar
Bench, Bhubaneswar (for short, 'the Tribunal') in OA No.23 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 the Claimants should
approach learned Tribunal by filing appropriate application for
variation in the condition and mode of payment of the
// 2 //
compensation amount. In that event, learned Tribunal will be in a
position to pass necessary orders on her application.
5. Mr. Mund, learned counsel for the Appellants 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 Claimants 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 Claimants instead of
directing a major portion to be deposited in a fixed deposit
scheme. It appears that the Claimants/Appellants being the father
and mother of the deceased-Pankaj Sahu are major and do not
have either any physical or mental disability. As such, the case of
the Appellants 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 Claimants 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 Claimants/Appellants are
directed to submit their 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
