Rajasthan High Court
Union Of India vs Smt. Bimla Devi W/O Late Shri ... on 11 February, 2022
Bench: Pankaj Bhandari
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN
BENCH AT JAIPUR
S.B. Civil Miscellaneous Appeal No. 366/2022
Union of India, through the General Manager, North Western
Railway, Jaipur (Rajasthan).
----Appellant
Versus
Smt. Bimla Devi W/o Late Shri Nekpal, Aged About 70
Years, Resident Of 3/115, Neb, Housing Board, Krishi
Upaj Mandi, Alwar, District Alwar, Rajasthan (Died during
pendency of the Claim Application).
1/1. Smt. Seema Devi W/o Shri Bharat Khatri D/o Late Shri
Nekpal, Aged About 45 Years, R/o 3/79, NEB, Housing
Board, Alwar, District Alwar, Rajasthan- 301001.
1/2. Rakesh Kumar S/o Late Shri Nekpal, Aged About 42
Years, R/o Ladiya Mohalla, Kachchi Basti, Alwar, District
Alwar (Rajasthan)-301001.
----Respondents
For Appellant(s) : Mr. Intjar Ali
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PANKAJ BHANDARI
Order
11/02/2022
1. Appellant has preferred this Civil Miscellaneous Appeal under
Section 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 against the
judgment & order dated 01.11.2021 passed by the Railway Claims
Tribunal, Jaipur Bench, Jaipur, whereby, claim application filed by
the applicant-respondents has been accepted and an award of
Rs.8,00,000/- has been passed in favour of the applicant-
respondents alongwith interest @ 9% from the date of incident
upto date of award.
(2 of 3) [CMA-366/2022]
2. It is contended by counsel for the appellant that deceased
was a ticketless traveler and as per the provisions under the
Railways Act, 1989, the kith and kin of the deceased are not
entitled to any compensation. It is also contended that the Court
below has erred in awarding the interest from the date of filing of
the claim petition. There is no provision under the Railways Act,
1989 for award of interest. It is further contended that a joint
inspection was done by the Railway Police Force and General Police
on the spot but no ticket was found on the person of the
deceased.
3. I have considered the contentions and have perused the
judgment passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Jaipur Bench,
Jaipur.
4. Railway Claims Tribunal, Jaipur Bench, Jaipur has framed
issues with regard to objections raised by the appellant that the
deceased was not traveling on a valid railway ticket. It has come
up in evidence that from the hospital, two tickets were recovered
by the police. Ex-A/4 certified copies of the tickets seized by the
Police shows that two blood soaked tickets were recovered from
the person of the deceased alongwith other articles.
5. The fact that the deceased was having a valid ticket, is thus
established from the recovery of blood soaked tickets from the
person of the deceased and merely because Railway Police Force
and General Police have made an inspection on the spot, it is not
established that the deceased was traveling without tickets.
6. The other objection is with regard to grant of interest from
the date of the incident, as the normal practice is that the Railway
Claims Tribunal awards the interest from the date of award with
(3 of 3) [CMA-366/2022]
the condition that if the amount is not paid within the prescribed
time, then only claimant would be entitled to receive interest.
7. The objection with regard to grant of interest from the date
of incident, cannot be sustained, as the Railways Act, for the
purpose of grant of compensation, is a beneficial legislation and
the Hon'ble Apex Court in "Union of India vs. Rina Devi
2018(2) WLC (SC) Civil 70," has awarded interest from the
date of accident.
8. In view of the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the
case of "Union of India vs. Rina Devi" (supra), wherein the
Apex Court held that interest can be awarded from the date of
accident itself and also considering the above, no ground is made
out for entertaining the present Civil Miscellaneous Appeal.
9. Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is accordingly, dismissed. Stay
application stands disposed.
(PANKAJ BHANDARI),J
AMIT KUMAR /24
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