Hon'ble Manish Kumar,J.
Heard Sri Jai Prakash Narain Tiwari, learned counsel for petitioners and Sri Shiv P. Shukla, learned counsel representing the respondent.
This petition has been filed seeking a direction to the respondent to disburse the entire amount of compensation awarded to the petitioners vide judgment and order dated 27.06.2019 passed by Railway Claims Tribunal, Lucknow Bench, Lucknow.
The compensation by the Railway Claims Tribunal has been awarded to the petitioners vide judgment and order dated 27.06.2019 on account of death of their son for the reason that their son had died as a result of some untoward incident. The Railway Claims Tribunal after considering all the relevant aspects awarded a sum of Rs.8,00,000/- (eight lacs) to both the petitioners and has apportioned the amount of compensation amongst them as Rs.4,00,000/- (four lacs) each. The petitioner no.1 is the father of deceased whereas petitioner no.2 is his mother. The Tribunal in deference to the judgment and order passed by Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in the case of Geeta Devi vs. Union of India [FAO 22/2015 & CMA 4501/2015] and also taking into account the Railway Claims Tribunal Annuity Deposit (RCTAD) Scheme has further ordered as under:-
"1. 10% of apportioned amount shall be disbursed to the claimant's bank account through ECS.
2. The residue amount in respect of claimants with interest, if any, shall be split into 36 equal monthly term deposits and each to be invested for a period from 1 to 60 months in the ascending order. On maturity of each term deposit, the maturity value shall be credited to the bank account of the claimant."
Submission of learned counsel for petitioners is that so far as quantum of compensation is concerned, the petitioners do not have any grievance, however they pray that mode of disbursement of compensation amount should be ordered to be such that it may mitigate their present day difficulties which they are facing in their life. It has been stated by learned counsel for petitioners that they are very poor marginal farmers and in fact, petitioner no.1 has only five biswas of land to his credit. It has further been stated on behalf of the petitioners that at the time of death, the petitioners' son was 20 years of age and was also contributing to the income of the family by working as daily wage labourer. However, on his demise the family has suddenly lost the earning which has saddled them in a precarious situation. Learned counsel for petitioners has also submitted that the petitioners could get their daughter married in the year 2019 after borrowing some debt and the marriage of their other son is scheduled to be held in the month of May, 2021.
To ascertain the aforesaid facts, this Court had passed the order on 19.02.2021 which is extracted hereinbelow:-
"Heard Shri Jai Prakash Narain, learned counsel for the petitioners and Shri Atrey Tripathi, Advocate holding brief of Shri Shiv P. Shukla, appearing for the respondent.
List this case on 26.02.2021 on which date we require the presence of both the petitioners to ascertain the correct facts.
Accordingly, the petitioners shall be present before this court on the aforesaid date."
In pursuance of the said order, both the petitioners are present and in our interaction with them, we find that their financial status and financial need are such that mode of disbursement of compensation amount as provided in the judgment and order of the Railway Claims Tribunal dated 27.06.2019 needs to be modified.
Learned counsel representing the Railway Claims Tribunal though has not opposed the prayer made in this petition, however, has drawn our attention to the Railway Accidents and Untoward Incident (Compensation) Amendment Rules, 2020, which have been notified on 03.06.2020. On the basis of said Rules, it has been submitted that complete scheme has been evolved under the said Rules so as to protect the sum awarded to the claimants having due regard to the disabling factors impairing the judicious use of such compensation amount. It is true that the said Rules notified on 03.06.2020 provide for a complete scheme with a laudable object and also make a mention of the judgment rendered by Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in the case of Geeta Devi (supra). However, the said Rules notified on 03.06.2020 provide ample scope for ordering the mode of disbursement of compensation amount dependent upon the financial status and financial need of the claimants. The financial status and financial need are, thus an important factor which need to be taken into account.
Accordingly, while appreciating the mode of disbursement of compensation amount as provided by the Railway Claims Tribunal in its judgment and order dated 27.06.2019, we modify the mode of disbursement of the compensation amount, having due regard to the financial status and financial need of the claimants, in the following manner:-
1. Rs.2.5 lacs of apportioned amount shall be disbursed to each claimants' bank account through ECS.
2. the residue amount in respect of each claimants with interest, if any, shall be split into 36 equal monthly term deposits each of which shall be invested for a period of 1 to 60 months in the ascending order. On maturity of each term deposit, the maturity value shall be credited to the bank account of each claimant.
3. Rest of the directions in the judgment and order dated 27.06.2019 passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal shall remain intact.
The order dated 27.06.2019 passed by the Railway Claim Tribunal stands modified to the aforesaid extent.
This petition is, thus, disposed of in the aforesaid terms.
We have passed this order considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and we specifically observe that this shall not be treated to be precedent.
Order Date :- 26.2.2021 Renu/-