रेलवे टिकट न होने का मतलब यह नहीं है कि पीड़ित वास्तविक यात्री नहीं था: सुप्रीम कोर्ट

By Drashta News / May 19, 2023

New Delhi. The Supreme Court, while discussing the provisions of the Railways Act, held that whenever an untoward incident occurs during the course of working of the railway, the railway administration is liable to pay compensation to the passenger, even if there is a wrongful act, neglect Yes, or there has been a lapse on the part of the railway administration. When an untoward incident occurs in the course of working of a railway, whether or not there has been any wrongful act, neglect or omission on the part of the railway administration, it shall entitle the passenger to injury or death. A claim can be made for recovery of damages and notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, the Railways is liable to pay the prescribed compensation for such untoward incident. The division bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice JK Maheshwari also reiterated the law laid down in an earlier judgment where the court held that the absence of ticket on the injured or deceased would not negate the claim that he was a genuine passenger. In the present case an appeal has been filed by the family of the deceased person who had fallen from a moving train due to heavy rush and had sustained serious injuries including amputation of his right hand. The person had died on the spot. The High Court dismissed the appeal filed by the family and agreed with the claims tribunal's finding that the deceased was not a genuine passenger. The court noted that the FIR, inquest report, post-mortem report and final report clearly showed that the deceased fell down from the train, which resulted in severe head injury and severed right hand, which resulted in profuse bleeding. Due to which he died. The court also noted that according to Rule 7(2) of the Railway Passengers (Manner of Investigation of Untoward Incidents) Rules 2003, the investigation report submitted by the Southern Railway also did not rule out the occurrence of any untoward incident and the Railways The only stand taken was that the deceased was not a genuine passenger. Thus, the court held that the Claims Tribunal and the High Court arrived at their findings without considering the documents and final report of the inquiry, which made the findings perverse and liable to be set aside. With regard to whether the deceased was the actual passenger, the court noted that the son of the deceased clearly testified that he had purchased the train ticket for the journey and handed it over to the deceased. The same was reiterated during cross-examination and also supported in the investigation report and investigation report. The Court was of the view that the preliminary burden has been discharged and the onus is on the Railway Administration to disprove this fact. The court also noted that nothing has been brought on record to show that the Railways discharged the burden. Thus, the Railway Administration is liable to pay the compensation. While fixing the amount of compensation, the court took note of the fact that the compensation rules were amended after the date of the accident and filing of the claim petition. Therefore, the amount of compensation has to be based on the amended rules. Thus, the court enhanced the compensation and directed the authorities to pay an amount of Rs 8 lakh. Case Title: Kamukayi & Anr. Vs. Union of India & Anr. Citation : LiveLaw (SC) 449/2023 Case No. : Civil Appeal No. 3799/2023 (Arising out of SLP(C) No. 17062/2022) Courtesy - LiveLaw