Railway Travel Insurance Cannot Be Limited To Online Tickets, Must Be Available To Counter Ticket Passengers Too: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has observed that passengers purchasing railway tickets over the counter cannot be denied the benefit of travel insurance when the same facility is available to those booking tickets online.A bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R. Mahadevan noted that passengers booking railway tickets online are able to opt for insurance at a nominal additional cost, whereas the same option is not presently available to passengers purchasing tickets physically at railway counters.Amicus Curiae Senior Advocate Shikhil Suri highlighted this issue before the bench and pointed out the absence of any response from the Railways regarding the disparity.In response, Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, appearing for the Union government, submitted that the Railways was still working out modalities to identify passengers purchasing tickets at counters for the purpose of issuing insurance certificates and processing claims. According to the Railways, the absence of identity records in such cases could lead to misuse and false claims against insurance companies.However, the Court indicated that such concerns could not justify excluding one class of passengers from the benefit.“There cannot be a distinction with regard to the manner in which a ticket is bought by passengers, that is, online or over the counter, by granting the facility of insurance to one segment and not to the other segment,” the bench observed.The Court added that although the possibility of misuse may need to be addressed, the Railways must find a workable solution instead of depriving counter ticket passengers of the facility.The bench further observed that once the Railways sells tickets to passengers, it bears the responsibility to put in place mechanisms to identify them, especially in the present era where advanced technological solutions are available.According to the Court, such technology can be utilised at ticket counters to record the identity of passengers so that the insurance facility can be extended to them as well.On this, we only indicate that there cannot be a distinction with regard to the manner in which a ticket is bought by passengers i.e., online or over the counter, by granting the facility of insurance to one segment (online ticket booking) and not to the other segment (tickets bought over the counter). No doubt, the issue of misuse is a factor which needs to be looked into, but then a way out for the same has to be worked out and evolved, but not at the cost of depriving one segment of public with the benefit which is given to another segment, for a reason, which in our considered opinion, cannot be allowed to be a basis for such distinction. When the Railways sell tickets, it is their responsibility to take all the measures which are available today, especially in the modern era where the facility of advanced technology is available, through which identities can easily be fixed and noted and to put such a technology at use at the ticket counters from where a common man buys ticket.Case BackgroundThe observations came during the hearing of applications arising from earlier directions of the Court concerning railway safety and passenger welfare. The bench also expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which the Railways had presented information on its spending priorities and sought a clearer affidavit explaining allocation and utilisation of funds.The matter is scheduled to be heard next on April 1, 2026.Also from the order - Supreme Court Expresses Strong Displeasure At Railways For Not Properly Explaining Investments On SafetyCase Title: Union of India v. Radha Yadav, Miscellaneous Application No.741-742/2019Citation : 2026 LiveLaw (SC) 231Click here to read order

Railway Travel Insurance Cannot Be Limited To Online Tickets, Must Be Available To Counter Ticket Passengers Too: Supreme Court

Debby Jain

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