The burden of proof lies on the railway administration to prove that a deceased passenger was not a bona fide passenger.

JUDGMENT

1. The present Appeal is preferred by the appellant aggrieved by the judgment dtd. 5/7/2019 passed in OA/II/u/140 of 2010 by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Amaravati Bench, Guntur (for short "the Tribunal").

2. Heard Smt. N. S. Geetha Madhuri, learned counsel appearing for the appellant and Sri Jupudi V. K. Yagnadutt appearing for the respondents.

3. The claim of appellant/applicant before the Tribunal is that the application has been filed by the appellant under Sec. 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act against the respondent Railway administration for payment of compensation for the death of her son as a result of an untoward incident. The claim of the appellant is that one Jalem Ramesh (hereinafter referred to "the deceased")went to Rajahmundry one day prior to the incident and stayed there on that night. During his return journey, the deceased along with brother-in-law K Venkata Ramana went to Rajahmundry Railway station in the morning hours of 6/4/2010 and his brother-in-law purchased one 2nd class train journey ticket for the deceased from Rajahmundry to Tuni and the deceased boarded train No.7487 Tirupati-Visakhapatnam Tirumala Exp. In a second class general compartment by holding the said ticket. During the course of his journey, the deceased J. Ramesh slipped and fell down accidentally from the said train at KM No.679/2-4 in between Hamsavaram and Tuni Railway stations due to speed, jerks and jolts. As a result, he sustained severe head injury and other multiple fractures and died on the spot on the same day morning hours of 6/4/2010.

4. The respondent filed its written statement and denied all the allegations made in the claim application and stated that no train journey ticket was found from the body of the deceased at the time of Inquest. As such the claim does not fall within the ambit of Sec. 123 (c ) read with Sec. 124A of the Railways Act 1989. Therefore, prayed to dismiss the application.

5. Basing on the above pleadings, the Tribunal framed the following issues:

i) Whether the applicant(s) is/are dependant(s) of the deceased? ii) Whether the deceased was a bona fide passenger of the train in question and died as a result of untoward incident? iii) Whether the applicant(s) is/are entitled to claim the compensation as prayed for and to what relief?

6. During course of the trial, on behalf of the applicants AW.1 and AW.2 were examined and Ex.A1 to Ex.A5 were marked. On behalf of the respondents, RW.1 to RW.3 were examined and Ex.R1 and Ex.R2 were marked.

7. Basing on the facts and circumstances, attending circumstances and preponderance of evidence on record, the Tribunal has dismissed the application. Challenging the same, the present Civil Miscellaneous Appeal came to be filed.

8. On hearing, learned counsel for the appellant submits that the judgment of Tribunal is contrary to law and contrary to facts of the case and therefore the same is liable to be set aside. He further submits that the Tribunal grossly erred in holding that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger and the death of the deceased was not due to an untoward incident. The Tribunal adopted a very narrow approach in this matter. The act is beneficial piece of legislation. He further submits that the Tribunal erred in dismissing the claim petition on erroneous appreciation of the evidence and material on record.

9. To support her contentions, learned counsel for the appellant has relied upon a decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court reported in Kamukayi & Ors. Versus Union of India and Ors., Civil Appeal No.3799 of 2023 wherein it was held that: This court in the case of Rina Devi (Supra) has explained the burden of proof when body of a passenger is found on railway premises. While analysing the said issue, this Court has considered the judgement of Madhya Pradesh High Court in Raj Kumari v. Union of India3 and the judgements of Delhi High Court in Gurcharan Singh v. Union of India4, Andhra Pradesh High Court in Jetty Naga Lakshmi Parvath