- (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: That son of the appellants, namely, Late Sujit Kumar Sinha, who died in a railway accident near Bhagalpur Railway Station on 2.12.2006 while travelling with his cousin sister Anjana Kumari in HowrahJamalpur Express (Train No. 3071 UP). When son of the appellants was travelling along with her cousin, by 3071 Howrah-Jamalpur Express from Dhanbad (Sabour) to Bhagalpur Jn. met with an accident when the road over bridge collapsed crushing coach No. 90288 and killed around 35 people, including son of the appellants and his cousin sister, who were travelling in the ill fated compartment. On account of such miserable accident, railway authorities decided to pay ex gratia to the victims' family members to the tune of Rs.4,00,000/-, which has been received by the appellants. Thereafter, claim petition was filed before the Railway Claims Tribunal under Section 124A of the Railways Act, 1989 for getting compensation of Rs.4,00,000/-, but, the said application was dismissed, as not maintainable vide judgment dated 14.09.2009 by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Ranchi Bench. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the said judgment, present appeal has been preferred by the appellants on the various grounds, enumerated in the appeal memo.
(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.;