Court No. - 1
Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 1270 of 2019 Appellant :- Union of India Respondent :- Gyanchand And Another Counsel for Appellant :- Pranjal Mehrotra Counsel for Respondent :- Yogendra Pal Singh
Hon'ble Vivek Agarwal,J.
Heard Sri Pranjal Mehrotra, learned counsel for the appellant and Sri Yogendra Pal Singh, learned counsel for the claimant.
This appeal has been filed by the Union of India being aggrieved of award dated 27.8.2018 passed by Member (Technical), Railway Claims Tribunal, Ghaziabad Bench, Ghaziabad in Claim Case No. OA/IIU/GZB/2012/227 wherein it is alleged that overlooking the evidence on record especially that of the Loco Pilot of Train No. 19105 Ahmedabad Mail, learned Claims Tribunal has not treated it a case of suicide but as that of a railway accident and has arbitrarily awarded compensation.
Sri Mehrotra submits that from the report of the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), it is established that it is a case of suicide and therefore, impugned award needs to be set aside.
Sri Yogendra Pal Singh on the other hand submits that matter has been dealt with by Technical Member of Railway Claims Tribunal, who is a former senior official of Indian Railways and he has rightly appreciated the fact that there is no material contradiction in the evidence of RW-1 who has in the first place said that when his train was approaching the place of incident then deceased suddenly jumped on the railway track whereas contradictory to this RW-1 has mentioned that when train was approaching the spot, speed of the train was about 50 KMPH and deceased lie down on the track in front of the train.
However, there is no explanation to the evidence given by AW- 2, who was a co-passenger and stated that deceased and this witness AW-2 travelled in Utkal Express train with a valid ticket and accident took place due to fall of the victim from a moving train due to hustle and bustle because of excessive rush in the train therefore, learned Claims Tribunal has rightly appreciated facts of the matter that when a person was having valid ticket to travel in another train which has been corroborated through documentary evidence then there was no reason for the deceased to have travelled to the place of incident from his place of residence just to commit suicide in front of Train No. 19105 – Ahmedabad Mail. It is also submitted that there is contradiction in regard to timings of Train No. 19105 – Ahmedabad Mail on the relevant date as has been discussed by the learned Claims Tribunal on the basis of information received under RTI. No independent investigator / witness was produced by the appellant to rebut the contention of AW-2 who was co-passenger of the deceased, that the deceased had fallen down from Utkal Express and due to such fall he sustained injuries causing his death.
After hearing counsel for the parties and going through the record , it is apparent that appellant has failed to lead any independent evidence to substantiate the allegations made by RW-1, Loco Pilot of Train No. 19105 – Ahmedabad Mail especially the factum of possession of ticket of Utkal Express on which deceased was reportedly on board and had fallen down sustaining grievous injuries resulting of his death.
Appellants have since failed to produce any cogent evidence in respect of their contention and evidence of Loco-pilot is contradictory and not corroborated by any independent witness, no infirmity or illegality can be attributed to the impugned award. Appeal fails and is dismissed.
In above terms, the appeal is dismissed.
Order Date :- 6.1.2021 S.K.S.