1. Heard on CMCC No.9797/2007, whereby a prayer has been made to condone the delay of 10 days in filing the appeal.

2. For the reasons mentioned in the application, the same is allowed and delay in filing the appeal is hereby condoned.

3. With the consent of both the parties, the matter is being heard finally.

4. The present civil misc. appeal has been filed assailing the judgment dated 05.09.2007, passed by learned Judicial Member, Railway Claims Tribunal, Jaipur (hereinafter referred to as the 'learned Tribunal') in O.A.II/96/2001, whereby the claim application filed by the claimants-respondents under Section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act of 1987') read with Section 125 of the Indian Railway Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act of 1989') was allowed and compensation to the tune of Rs.4,00,000/- was awarded to the claimants-respondents.

5. The facts, in a nutshell, are that on 04.08.2001, one Shri Shiv Dayal, along with his friend, purchased a second class railway ticket bearing No. 82146682 for travelling from Jaipur to Alwar by Train No. 187, Jaipur-Hisar Passenger. On account of the Rakshabandhan festival, the train was overcrowded and the second-class compartment was packed with passengers. Due to excessive crowding, Shri Shiv Dayal and his friend could not remain together and were compelled to travel in separate compartments. Owing to the congestion inside the compartment, Shri Shiv Dayal was standing near the gate of the compartment during the course of the journey. While the train was passing near Kanota Railway Station, Shri Shiv Dayal accidentally fell from the running train near a culvert and sustained grievous injuries and later succumbed to those injuries on the spot. An FIR No.8/2001 pertaining to this incident was lodged at Police Station Kanota.

5.1 Aggrieved by the untimely demise of Shri Shiv Dayal, the claimants-respondents, who are the dependents of the deceased filed a claim petition to the tune of Rs.6,00,000/- along with interest @ 18% from date of occurrence of the incident, asserting that the deceased was a bonafide passanger and was holding a valid ticket while the untoward incident occurred which resulted in his death.

5.2 Thereafter, the non-claimant-appellant filed a reply stating that the deceased was not a bonafide passenger and his death was not caused by an untoward train incident. Furthermore, the non-claimant-appellant contended that the deceased was not travelling from Jaipur to Alwar on 04.08.2001 in Train No. 187 Jaipur-Hisar Passenger Train with a valid ticket. The non-claimant-appellant therefore, prayed that the claim petition be dismissed.

5.3 After hearing both the parties, the learned Tribunal vide judgment dated 05.09.2007, allowed the claim petition of the claimants-respondents and awarded compensation of Rs.4,00,000/- while holding that the deceased was a bonafide passenger of the train.

6. Aggrieved by the judgment dated 05.09.2007, the non-claimant-appellant has preferred the present civil misc. appeal.

7. Learned counsel for the non-claimant-appellant at the outset has assailed the impugned judgment as being illegal and perverse. Learned counsel submits that the learned Tribunal erred in holding that the deceased was a bonafide passenger. The burden to establish that the deceased was travelling with a valid ticket squarely lay upon the claimants-respondent, however no cogent or reliable evidence was produced to discharge the said burden.

7.1 Learned counsel for the non-claimant-appellant further submits that admittedly no journey ticket was recovered from the body of the deceased at the time of the inquest proceedings, spot inspection or preparation of the FIR. Further, the FIR and other contemporaneous documents were also completely silent regarding any ticket number or recovery of ticket from the deceased. Learned counsel thus submits that such omission created a serious doubt regarding the alleged journey of the de