BEFORE THE RAILWAY CLAIMS TRIBUNAL, GORAKHPUR BENCH, GORAKHPUR Mr. Deepak Nath Tiwari, MJ, RCT Gorakhpur Bench Gorakhpur PARTIES

1. Ramu Verma aged about 34 years, S/o Late Ram Kishun Verma

2. Ajay Kumar Verma aged about 33 years S/o Late Ram Kishun Verma

3. Lal Ji aged about 22 years s/o Late Ram Kishun Verma R/o- Imaliya Gurudayal Post- Badgaon Thana- Kotwali Nagar Gonda (U.P).

Applicants Versus Union of India through General Manager, North Eastern Railway Gorakhpur …… Respondent.

Date of Incident : 15/01/2019 Date of Filing : 17/12/2019 Date of argument : 12.10.2023 Date of decision : 27.10.2023 Learned Counsel for the Applicant: Mr. B.N. Gupta Learned Counsel for Respondent: Mr. R.P. Srivastava [The Advocates of claimants have abstained from work in tribunal paying no heed to the direction of Hon’ble Supreme Court to the effect that no member of the Bar can go on strike and/or abstain himself from court working, whereas the Advocates of Railway have been participating in the functioning of this tribunal. It is important to point out that the total days of their abstinence for court work from March 2021 till today have reached up to 196 days, while Rule 28 mandates to dispose of application at one hearing and maximum at three hearings by the tribunals. This case has been 1 e g pending since 17/12/2019 for the incident taken place on 15/01/2019. Therefore, this OA is a being decided on the strength of Section 18 Railway Claims Tribunal Act coupled with Rule 18 and 28 of the Railway Claims Tribunal (Procedure) Rules on the basis of material available on record in terms of Rule 30 Railway Claims Tribunal (Procedure) Rules.]

JUDGMENT

Deepak Nath Tiwari, Member Judicial This is an application filed by the Applicants (dependents of the deceased) under section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 against the Respondent Railway administration seeking compensation for the death of Ram Kishun Verma (hereinafter referred to as “the deceased”), who allegedly died in an untoward incident. The applicants, who have filed this OA, are said to be the sons of the deceased.

CASE OF APPLICANTs The applicants have sought compensation for an untoward incident in terms of Section 123(c) (2) of the Railways Act, 1989. According to the facts mentioned in OA, on 14.01.2019 the deceased started traveling by Train from Ludhiyana Jn. to Gonda Jn with a valid superfast railway ticket No. 45776541. On 15.01.2019, when the train was about to reach near Gonda Railway station, the deceased lost his balance due to push and pressure of passenger and accidentally fell down from the train at KM NO. 659/3-4 and succumbed to injuries on the spot. The applicants have sought a compensation amount to

2 the tune of Rs. 8,00,000/- along with the interest. e g a

2.1 On behalf of the applicants, one witness has been examined namely AW-1 Ramu Verma. He has filed examination-in-chief supported with affidavit in which he has mentioned about alleged incident as per OA. In supported the facts mentioned in OA, Memo, Rail journey Ticket, Memo, Panchayatnama, Post Mortem Report, Pariwar Register and Adhar Card have been proved by him, which have been marked as exhibits A1 to A6 respectively. During cross examination he has stated that the distance between place of incident and his house is 5 Km.

CASE OF RESPONDENT

3. Notice regarding the claim application was issued against the respondent. Learned counsel for the respondent responded by submitting a written statement along with (a) Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Report dated 11.05.2019 (b) Inspector Report (c) Investigating Officer Report (d) Check list issued by Supreme Court (e). Form No. 1 and Form No. 2 (f) Photo copy of Station Diary (g) Statement of Station Master (h) Memo (i) statement of eye witness (j) Statement of Guard and Driver (k) Rojnamcha (l) Verification of Ticket (m) Statement of deceased’s family members (n) panchayatnama (o) Post mortem report and (p) Photograph of incident place. Later on, an information about