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P. T. ASHA
R. Janaki – Appellant
Versus
Union of India Owning Southern Railway, Rep. by its General Manager, Chennai – Respondent
JUDGMENT
(Prayer: Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is filed under Section 23 of the Railways Claims Tribunal Act, against the Judgement dated 08.12.2015 and made in O.A.(II-U) 356/2014 on the file of the Railway Claims Tribunal, Chennai Bench.)
1. The applicant before the Railway Claims Tribunal, Chennai is the appellant before this Court. The appellant is aggrieved by the dismissal of her application seeking compensation for the death of her mother in an alleged Train accident.
2. It is the case of the appellant that her mother Raniammal, aged about 73 years had travelled in a Train from Chennai to Avadi and had accidentally fallen down from the running Train between Vyasarpadi and Perambur Railway Stations. The said Raniammal had sustained grievous injuries and died on the spot.
3. The appellant had claimed a total compensation of a sum of Rs.4,00,000/- together with interest at 9% p.a. from the date of application till the date of the payment together with costs. The appellant had stated that the journey ticket had been lost and that her mother was a Cooley. The appellant had described the case as an “untoward incident”.
4. The respondent Railways had filed their reply statement, in which
Accidental fall from running train constitutes untoward incident for bonafide passenger; affidavit discharges initial burden, shifting to railways on preponderance of probabilities; no-fault compensa....
The Court ruled that in compensation claims for railway accidents, the presumption is that a passenger holds a valid ticket, shifting the burden of proof to railways to disprove this status.
Point of Law : Mere absence of ticket with such injured or deceased will not negative claim that he was a bona fide passenger. Initial burden will be on the claimant which can be discharged by filing....
The mere absence of a journey ticket does not negate a claim of being a bona fide passenger under the Railways Act, as the initial burden lies on the claimants and shifts to the Railways to disprove ....
The burden of proof on the claimant to establish the deceased as a bona fide passenger with a valid journey ticket and the liability of the railway administration to pay compensation in the absence o....
The absence of a ticket does not negate the claim of a deceased being a bona fide passenger under the Railway Act, and compensation is payable under strict liability principles.
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