High Court allowed appeal against Rail Claims Tribunal Award for lack of evidence and failure to implead legal heirs, remanding case for fresh disposal with opportunity to adduce evidence.
Impugned award set aside; matter remanded to Railway Claims Tribunal for fresh disposal of the impleading application within six months.
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.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE P.SOMARAJAN
TUESDAY, THE 5TH DAY OF OCTOBER 2021 / 13TH ASWINA, 1943
MFA NO. 215 OF 2010
AGAINST THE ORDER/JUDGMENT 10.08.2010 IN RA 3/2010 IN O.A.(IIU)/ERS/2009/0131 TOGETHER WITH JUDGMENT DATED 18.05.2010 IN O.A. (II-U)ERS/2009/0131 OF RAILWAY CLAIMS TRIBUNAL, ERNAKULAM BENCH) APPELLANT (RESPONDENT IN O.A.):
UNION OF INDIA
OWNING SOUTHERN RAILWAY, REPRESENTED BY THE GENERAL MANAGER, SOUTHERN RAILWAY, CHENNAI.
BY ADV SRI.JAMES KURIAN.SC.,RAILWAYS
RESPONDENTS(APPLICANTS ON O.A):
1 GOPALAKRISHNAN UNNITHAN, S/O.LATE PARAMESWARAN UNNITHAN, NADAYIL PADITTATHIL HOUSE, CHUNAKKARA, MAVELIKKARA, ALAPPUZHA - 690 534.
THIS MISC. FIRST APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 05.10.2021, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
MFA NO. 215 OF 2010 2
JUDGMENT
Paragraph 4 of the impugned award is extracted
below for reference:
4. The O.A. was filed on 17.02.2009. Thereafter the case was called on 29.5.09, 30.7.09 and 15.9.09 and on all these occasions, neither the applicants nor the counsel was present. When the case was called on 13.10.09, 3.11.09, 26.11.09 and 20.1.10 the counsel for the applicants sought ajournment Again when the case was called on 11.12.09,17.2.10,17.3.10 and 7.4.10, neither the applicants nor the counsel was present. A last chance was given on 12.5.10 then again neither the counsel nor the applicants was present. In this context, the Tribunal has no option, but to dispose the case based on merits of the evidence made available. After a detailed study of all evidences made available and taken on record,these are my considered ruling on each issue:
even understand what actually amounts to evidence and an award was passed for an amount of Rs.4 lakhs without receiving any documentary or oral evidence in the matter. In the impugned award no documents were marked or received in evidence, but simply passed an award overlooking all settled principles.
Standing Counsel for the appellant/Railway that the application for impleading the wife and children of the
MFA NO. 215 OF 2010 3
deceased was not addressed and no order was passed without which an award was passed in favour of the parents of the deceased victim. This is really not expected from a competent authority. They are bound to act in accordance with the mandate under the law and cannot dispose of any matter at their whims and fancies. Hence, the impugned award is set aside. The matter is remanded back to the Tribunal for fresh disposal in accordance with the law in force. The parties shall appear before the Tribunal on 25/10/2021 or any other date that may be fixed by the Tibunal in that behalf. There will be a further direction to the Tribunal to dispose of the matter within a time schedule of six months after affording an opportunity to the parties to adduce thier evidence. The application submitted by the wife and children will stand allowed so as to enable them to raise their claim over the property.
The appeal is allowed accordingly. No costs.
Sd/-
P.SOMARAJAN JUDGE
msp
MFA NO. 215 OF 2010 4
APPENDIX OF M.F.A.215/2010
PETITIONERS ANNEXURES
ANNEXURE A1 TRUE COPY OF APPLICATION O.A.131/2009 FILED IN THE RCT/ERNAKULAM ALONG WITH DOCUMENTS ANNEXURE A2 TRUE COPY OF REPLY STATEMENT FILED BY RAILWAY IN O.A.NO.131/2009 OF RCT/ERNAKULAM ANNEXURE A3 TRUE COPY OF IMPLEADING PETITION WITH ANNEXURES, AS RECEIVED BY PRESENTING OFFICER OF RAILWAY IN O.A.131/2009 OF RCT/ERNAKULAM ANNEXURE A4 TRUE COPY OF REVIEW APPLICATION NO.3/2010 FILED BY RAILWAY IN RCT/ERNAKULAM
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the Railway Claims Tribunal was justified in passing an award without receiving any documentary or oral evidence while ignoring the application for impleading the legal heirs of the deceased.
Whether the award passed without addressing the application to implead the wife and children of the deceased violates the mandate of the law to act fairly.
Whether the appeal filed against the Rail Claims Tribunal Award dated 08-10-2010 and Judgment dated 18-05-2010 should be allowed and the matter remanded.
UNION OF INDIA
GOPALAKRISHNAN UNNITHAN
KARTHIKKAKKUTTYAMMA
P. SOMARAJAN
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
