VIRENDRA KUMAR,II,JJ. - (1.) This is an appeal filed under section 23 of Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as "Act, 1989") arising from award dated 17.02.2017 passed by Railway Claims Tribunal, Lucknow Bench, Lucknow (hereinafter referred to as "Tribunal") in Case No. OA/II/U/183/09 awarding compensation of Rs. 8,00,000/- on account of death of Prem Pal on 10.09.2006, when he was travelling on Bareilly-Delhi Express with a second class ticket and due to rush of passengers in the Coach, fell and met an accident.
(2.) Learned counsel for appellant contended that Police report and the opinion contained in Panchayat-Nama show that deceased was trying to board while Train was moving but there was no evidence adduced on behalf of appellant before Tribunal in support of this plea or presumption. Tribunal, on the basis of evidence available before it, has recorded a finding of fact as under: ...[VARNACULAR TEXT OMITTED]... "It has been admitted in the Statutory enquiry Report presented from the side of the respondent that death of the deceased has been caused because of fall from the train but this petition has been rebutted by the respondent on the ground of negligence of the deceased contending that deceased was boarding the running train. In my opinion in the light of the provision provided under Section 124-A of the Railway Act, 1989, in this accident, there is no scope for the negligence of the deceased as laid down by Hon'ble the Apex Court in Union of India v. Prabhakaran Vijai Kumar (2008) 9 SCC 527 , and if this fact is proved that death of the deceased had been caused due to injuries sustained on falling from the impugned train then the Railway Administration is responsible for paying the damages unless the aforesaid negligence is criminal. No such evidence has been produced from the side of the respondent that cause of the death of deceased was any criminal negligence of his. It becomes clear from the enquiry of the Fact in issue No. 1 that deceased was a bona fide passenger of the railway. Therefore it is decided that the death of deceased had been caused due to injuries sustained on falling from the impugned train which comes within the ambit of untoward railway incident defined under Section 123(C)(2) of the Railway Act. This fact in issue is also positively decided in the favour of petitioners accordingly." (English Translation by Court)
(3.) Nothing could be placed before us to show any illegality or perversity in the aforesaid finding recorded by Tribunal so as to render it unsustainable.;