MAHENDRA PRASAD AND ORS. Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Present appeal has been filed under Section 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 being aggrieved by the judgment dated 14.09.2009 passed in Case No. OA-70040/07 by Member Judicial, Railway Claims Tribunal, Ranchi Bench, whereby the learned Railway Claims Tribunal dismissed the claim petition as not maintainable as the railway administration has paid Rs.4,00,000/- as ex gratia on account of death of the applicants' son, who died in a railway accident.

(2.) Brief facts giving rise to the present appeal are as under:

(3.) Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that son of the appellants was a bona fide passenger in connection with the said accident. Postmortem report, death certificate and the deceased's travelling ticket etc. were produced along with the claim petition; however, without proper consideration of the facts and circumstances involved in the matter, learned Tribunal dismissed the claim petition, as not maintainable, without properly appreciating the basic difference between the ex gratia payment and the amount of compensation claimed under Section 124A of the Railways Act, 1989.