Court No. - 3
Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 2511 of 2018 Appellant :- Union Of India Respondent :- Smt. Sanju Devi And 4 Others Counsel for Appellant :- Santosh Kumar Tiwari
Hon'ble Pankaj Mithal,J. Hon'ble Rajiv Joshi,J.
Heard Sri Santosh Kumar Tiwari, learned counsel for the appellant. Learned counsel has filed application for interim stay. It is taken on record.
The appellant Union of India has preferred this appeal under Section 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 against the award dated 267.2.2018 of the Railway Claims Tribunal.
The tribunal has awarded a sum of Rs. 8 lacs to the claimant respondents with 6% interest per annum due to the death of one Ajai Kumar in the railway accident.
The only argument which has been raised by Mr. Tiwari in this appeal is that the death of the deceased was not due to railway accident but it was a case of suicide.
The Railway Claims Tribunal while considering issue nos. 1 and 2 have categorically recorded a finding that according to the report of the DRM, the deceased died of a railway accident. He had fallen down from the train and a valid ticket was recovered from him. In view of the above, it can not be said that it was not a case of railway accident.
The statement of one of the witnesses that the deceased had jumped before a goods train and had committed suicide is totally unbelievable. He had also stated that the deceased was roaming about on the platform in search of food from the dustbins which clearly indicates that he had no money at all for purchasing anything to eat. If that be so, he would not have even purchased a ticket but he had a valid ticket with him. All this corroborates the report of the DRM that the deceased died in a railway accident.
In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, we do not find any substance in this appeal.
Accordingly, the appeal is devoid of merit and is dismissed.
Order Date :- 29.5.2018 SKS