In this appeal against a Railway Claims Tribunal decision dismissing compensation for a death of a bonafide railway passenger, the single judge held that the appellant failed to prove her status as the legal heir or dependent due to documentary discrepancies. The appeal was dismissed.
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-2081-16.odt
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD
FIRST APPEAL NO.2081 OF 2016
Smt. Sugaranabai W/o Rajaram Dongare
Versus
Union of India, Through the General Manager, Central Railway, CST, Mumbai.
Mr. Vishnu B. Madan, Advocate for appellant. Mr. M.N. Navandar, Advocate for respondent.
CORAM : SMT. VIBHA KANKANWADI, J.
DATE : 26th September, 2019.
ORDER :
. Present appeal has been filed by the original applicant under Section 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 against the judgment and order dated 09.03.2016 passed by the respondent - Railway Claims Tribunal, Bench at Nagpur in Case No. OA(IIu)/NGP/ 2011/0341, whereby her claim for compensation under Section 16 of the said Act came to be dismissed.
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the applicant is not entitled to receive compensation.
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other evidence were produced. Now, in this appeal, affidavit has been filed by the appellant as well as Aarti Ashok Johare, who is the real sister of deceased Ravi. It has been stated that Rajkumar Rajaram Dongare was the son of appellant and father of Aarti and his nick name was Ambadas. Name of the appellant is also included in the said ration card. Only on the ground that there are some differences in the name in the documents produced by the appellant, the tribunal has wrongly held that she is not the legal heir of deceased.
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mentioned as Sugaranbai Rajaram Dongare, meaning thereby her husband’s name is Rajaram. No documentary evidence was produced to show that Ambadas was her son, who can be said to be the son of Rajaram and Sugaranbai. The ration card was also produced before the tribunal. Because of the erasers and interpolations, it created suspicion in the mind of the tribunal. Firstly in the said document, Ravi Ambadas Dongare was mentioned as the name and now he is shown to be the son of Rajkumar Rajaram Dongare. Now as per the affidavits produced at the appellate stage, it is tried to be contended that Rajkumar Rajaram Dongare was also known as Ambadas Rajaram Dongare. All the documents before the tribunal and the police inquiry showed that the name of the deceased is Ravi Ambadas Dongare. Ration card cannot be in the name of nick name. Even at the appellate stage, there is no documentary evidence produced to prove or show that Rajkumar was also known as Ambadas. As per appellant, Ambadas @ Rajkumar expired 12 years ago at Surat and she do not have any documentary evidence on the name of Ambadas Rajaram Dongare. The ration card is of village Savkhed Bhoi, Tq. Deolgaon Raja, Dist. Buldhana. If proper
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documents showing proper relationship have not been produced on record, then it cannot be accepted that deceased was related to the appellant and she can be said to be his legal heir. Therefore, the tribunal was justified in rejecting the claim application. So also, it was then justified in not going into the other points as to whether said Ravi died of untoward incident while he was travelling as bonafide passenger.
(SMT. VIBHA KANKANWADI, J.)
SCM
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3 issues framed by the court
Whether the appellant was the legal heir and dependent of the deceased to claim compensation under the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987.
Whether the discrepancies in names and interpolations in the ration card justified the rejection of the relationship claim.
Whether failure to prove dependency entitled the tribunal to dismiss the claim without addressing the occurrence and bona fide passenger status.
Smt. Sugaranabai W/o Rajaram Dongare
Union of India, Through the General Manager, Central Railway
Vibha Kankanwadi
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
