'Such Cases Should Never Reach Court': Bombay HC Criticises Railways For Making Family Of Deceased Employee Litigate For Compensation

In a significant order, the Bombay High Court recently held that the cases pertaining to accidental deaths of railway employees in train accidents, should never land in courts or tribunals and instead, the Railways must themselves go through the case file and grant compensation to the family of the deceased. 

Single-judge Justice Jitendra Jain held that the Railways must not compel the family members of the deceased employee to run from pillar to post.

"I would like to observe that such matters where the employees of the railways themselves have died because of the accident, should have never landed in this Court or in the Tribunal, but the railways should have on their own and more particularly after examining conflicting reports by their own authorities should have granted the compensation without making the claimants, who are the dependents of the railway employee, run from pillar to post. I hope that in future such things are not repeated," Justice Jain held in the order passed on March 9. 

The observations were made while hearing a plea filed by the family members of a railway employee, who died on September 11, 2010 after accidentally falling from a moving train between Nallasopara and Virar stations, due to overcrowding. 

The Railway Claims Tribunal, which initially considered the claim of the family members, noted that though the deceased was a Railway employee, he had no 'free pass' which is usually given to all the employees, at the relevant time. 

Justice Jain, noted that the railway employees are entitled to a free pass and a copy of the free pass granted to the deceased was annexed with the appeal memo and the same was also annexed along with the original application for compensation before the Tribunal.

"Merely because this railway pass as per the inquest panchnama was not recovered at the place of incident, it cannot be said that the deceased was not a 'bonafide passenger.' It is possible that this document was not recorded in inquest panchnama, though found from the search of the belongings of the deceased or it is also possible that the free pass was at home and the deceased was travelling without the free pass," the judge observed. 

The judge further opined, "In either case, it cannot be disputed that on the date of the accident, the deceased had in his favour a free pass issued by the railway authorities. Merely because, it was not found at the time of the accident or the deceased was not carrying it, cannot be a ground for rejecting the claim moreso when the Court is considering a welfare legislation and even moreso when the deceased was none other, but the employee of the respondent railways. Therefore, this ground of the respondent cannot be accepted for rejecting the claim."

The judge, therefore, ordered the family members to make an application for grant of compensation along with the present order with the respondent-Railways for compensation of Rs 4 lakhs along with interest at 6 per cent from the date of accident till the date of payment should be calculated subject to a cap of Rs.8 lakhs and the amount should be remitted to the bank account of the claimants within eight weeks from the date of making such an application.

"The respondent railway authorities should ensure that the claimants are not made to run from pillar to post for transfer of the amount to their account and I hope that the amount will be remitted immediately within eight weeks from the date of making such application," the bench said. 

With these observations, the bench disposed of the First Appeal against the Railway Claims Tribunal's order. 

Appearance:

Advocate Sainand Chaugule appeared for the Applicants. 

Advocates Akash Kotecha, Sarwadnya Kadtane,  Anand  Waradkar and Divya Dhumne represented the Respondents.

Case Title: Nagmani Ramnna Burumuri vs Union of India (First Appeal 739 of 2016)

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Bom) 89

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