BENGALURU: Just because the journey ticket was not found on the body of the deceased is not a ground to say that the death is not because of railway accident, said Karnataka High Court while awarding compensation of Rs 4 lakh along with 8 percent interest per annum from the date of accident till the date of realisation to the family members of the deceased.
Justice Hanchate Sanjeevkumar passed the order recently while allowing the appeal filed by the deceased family members-- Fhajalanabi and others from Vijayapura district-- questioning the order dated April 13, 2017, passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Bengaluru Bench.
Setting aside the Tribunal’s order, the court said that when the death occurred, and immediately the body was shifted to the hospital to conduct the post-mortem, during the said time, the ticket might have been lost.
Therefore, the Tribunal is not correct in dismissing the claim petition on the reason that the railway ticket was not found on the dead body. Quite naturally, the claimants have not accompanied the deceased. Therefore, they could not produce the journey ticket. Further, it is proved that a dead body was found in the railway accident, and therefore, the claimants are entitled to compensation, the court added.
The court also made clear that after applying the rate of interest, if the final figure is less than Rs 8 lakh, then the claimants are entitled to Rs 8 lakh. Therefore, in the present case also, compensation of Rs 4 lakh with interest at the rate of 8 percent per annum from the date of petition till the date of realization is awarded to the claimants and if this figure comes less than Rs.8 lakh, then the appellants/claimants are entitled to a maximum compensation of Rs 8 lakh, the court said.
The claimants are the wife and children of the deceased Aminasab Mulla. On April 6, 2015, Aminasab purchased a ticket at Vijayapura Railway Station to travel from Vijayapur to Limbala. Accidentally, he fell from the moving train and sustained fatal injuries and died on the spot. Therefore, the claimants filed the petition before the Tribunal, which dismissed the same. Hence, they filed the appeal before the high court against the Tribunal’s order.