Appeal by dependents against dismissal of compensation claim for death of a railway passenger. High Court upheld Tribunal's finding that evidence of accident was unreliable and deceased was not involved in an untoward incident.
Appeal dismissed with no costs.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
FA 2079.2016.odt
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD
FA/2079/2016
ABDUL GANI S/O SHAIKH BABAMIYA AND ANOTHER VERSUS UNION OF INDIA, THR G.M. SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAYS, SECUNDRABAD (ANDRA PRADESH)
...
Advocate for Appellants : Mr P S Agrawal Advocate for Respondent : Mr S.S.Rathi
CORAM : V.K. JADHAV, J.
… Reserved on : May 02, 2017 Pronounced on : July 18, 2017.
COURT'S ORDER :-
no.OA(IIU)/NGP/2013/0281, by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Nagpur, the original claimants preferred this appeal.
a] As per the case of the appellants-claimants on 13.3.2013 deceased Shaikh Javed was travelling from Aurangabad to Parbhani by Manmad Dharmabad
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FA 2079.2016.odt
Marathwada Express Train No.17687. Deceased Shaikh Javed was standing near the door of the compartment of the alleged train and due to sudden jerk, he fell down and came under the wheels. He had sustained serious injuries and succumbed to the injuries on the spot.
b] Thus, the dependents/claimants approached the Railway Tribunal for grant of compensation. It has been contended in the claim petition that deceased Shaikh Javed was travelling alongwith his mother from Aurangabad station for a destination of Parbhani. He was holding two adult tickets and one 2nd ticket for Rs.30/-. The said tickets were found during the personal search of the deceased. It has been contended that, deceased Shaikh Javed was the bonafide passenger and died in the untoward incident.
c] Respondents-railways has strongly resisted the claim petition by filing written statement. It has been contended that, no such untoward incident has taken place. In the inquiry made by the Circle Security
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FA 2079.2016.odt
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Commissioner of Railways Security Force, it has been noticed that no such incident of falling of the passenger from the train had taken place. In the alternate, it has also been contended that, deceased was not a bonafide passenger of the train and as such, the appellantsoriginal claimants are not entitled for the compensation.
d] The appellants-claimants have adduced oral and documentary evidence in support of their contentions. Respondent has adduced only documentary evidence. The learned Member of the Tribunal by its impugned judgment and award dated 29.10.2015 dismissed the claim petition. Hence, this appeal.
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4 FA 2079.2016.odt
jerk he fell down and came under the wheels. Thus, the appellants-claimants have proved the death of Sk. Javed, occurred in an untoward incident. RespondentRailways failed to prove that deceased was not a bonafide passenger of the train and he was not involved in the untoward incident.
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Aurangabad to Parbhani by the said train, however, in the pleadings there is no reference to the said child and, even, in the affidavit, no details of the said child are
mentioned. It has also not been stated as to whose child was travelling alongwith deceased Shaikh Javed and his mother. On the other hand, in the statement of the mother recorded during the course of the inquiry, she had stated that one Khatunbi was travelling alongwith her and Sk. Javed was standing near the door of the compartment. She herself and Sk. Khatunbi sat on the birth. The appellant-claimant no.2 has not given any reference to the child. If those two tickets pertains to the appellant-claimant no.2 and said Khatunbi, then
the third ticket cannot be said to be of deceased Javed,
who was the major son of appellants. Learned counsel submits that, the appellant-claimants have failed to prove that death of deceased occurred as a result of an untoward incident. The appellant-claimants have failed
to prove that deceased Sk. Javed was travelling in the
said train and he died due to falling down from the running train due to jerk. The Railways Tribunal
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therefore, has rightly dismissed the claim petition. No interference is required. There is no merit in the appeal.
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On perusal of the statement of the driver and the guard of the said train, it appears that, said train arrived at Aurangabad Station on 13.3.2013 at about 17.40 hours
and left at 18.00 hours. Thereafter train reached Mukundwadi station at about 18.11 hours and left at 18.22 hours. On that day, between Aurangabad to Mukundwadi station, no untoward incident of falling down of a any passenger from the running train was noticed or reported by anyone. On perusal of the inquiry papers, it appears that, the statement of appellant-claimant no.2 Nasimbegum and said Khatunbi came to be recorded belatedly. Both of them have not given any reference to said child travelling with them. On the other hand, there is no reference in the pleadings and in the evidence about said Khatunbi. The Railway Tribunal has observed some glaring irregularities in the important documents i.e. spot panchnama Exh.A-3, accident fall report A-2. Further, the Tribunal has also observed that postmortem report is doubtful.
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ORDER
( V.K. JADHAV, J. )
…
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2 issues framed by the court
Whether the High Court should interfere with the Railway Tribunal's finding that the deceased was not involved in an untoward incident.
Whether the claimants had discharged the burden of proving death occurred due to an accident defined under the Railways Act.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
ABDUL GANI S/O SHAIKH BABAMIYA AND ANOTHER
UNION OF INDIA, THR G.M. SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAYS, SECUNDRABAD (ANDRA PRADESH)
V.K. JADHAV
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
