IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD THURSDAY, THE THIRD DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND TEN PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE K.C.BHANU CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL No. 1600 of 2008 AND CROSS OBJECTIONS (SR) NO. 46197 OF 2009 Between : Union of India rep.by its General Manager. …APPELLANT/RESPONDENT A N D Gadapaga hanumanthappa and another …RESPONDENTS/RESPONDENTS THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE K.C. BHANU CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL No. 1600 of 2008 AND CROSS OBJECTIONS (SR) NO. 46197 OF 2009 COMMON JUDGMENT: This appeal, under Section 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987, is preferred aggrieved by the order dated 15.09.2008 in O.A.A No.235 of 2004 on the file of the Railway Claims Tribunal, Secunderabad Bench at Secunderabad, whereunder and whereby the Tribunal awarded compensation of Rs.4,00,000/- to the claimants consequent upon the death of deceased Gadapaga Raju, who is the son of the claimants. 2. Aggrieved by the same order, the claimants filed the cross objections for not granting interest on the compensation amount from the date of the application till the date of award. 3. The appellant in the C.M.A. is the respondent, and the respondents in the C.M.A. are the claimants, before the Claims Tribunal. For better appreciation of facts, the parties are hereinafter referred to, as arrayed before the Claims Tribunal. 4. The brief facts are that, claimants filed the O.A.A. stating that on 13.06.2004, one Gadapaga Raju ( hereinafter referred to as “the deceased”) travelled in the passenger Train No.524 with general ticket along with his colleague G.Anjaneyulu @ Anjaiah from Kacheguda to Devarakadra. While they were returning from Devarakadra to Kacheguda, the deceased fell down from the train near Divitapally halt station, thereby sustained grievous injuries and died on the spot. 5. The Railways took objection that the deceased was not a bona f i d e passenger travelling in the passenger train No.524 from Devarakadra to Kacheguda, and that there were no eye witnesses to show that the deceased died in an untoward incident and that the Guard of the passenger train did not report about any untoward incident happened while the passenger train was coming from Devarakadra to Kacheguda, and therefore, it was not a case of an untoward incident, hence it was prayed to dismiss the claim application. 6. Basing on the above pleadings, the following issues have been framed for trial. 1. Whether the Applicants are dependents of the deceased? 2. Whether the deceased was a bona fide passenger of the train No.524 passenger traveling from Devarakadra to Kachiguda on 13.06.2004? 3. Whether the deceased died as a result of an untoward incident of accidental fall from the said train? 4. Whether the applicants are entitled to claim compensation of Rs.4,00,000/-? 5. To what relief ? 7. During the enquiry, on behalf of the claimants, AW-1 was examined and Exs. A1 to A5 were marked, and on behalf of the respondent, R.W. 1 was examined and Ex.R1 was marked. 8. The Claims Tribunal, placing reliance on the evidence of A.W.1 and Ex.A2 – Inquest report, came to the conclusion that the deceased died in an untoward incident and therefore, the Railways are liable to pay the compensation, and accordingly, awarded a sum of Rs.4,00,000/- towards compensation. Challenging the same, the present Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is filed by the Railways. 9. While granting compensation, the Claims Tribunal granted interest on the compensation amount from the date of award. Aggrieved by the same, the present Cross Objections are filed by the claimants for interest from the date of petition till the date of award. 10. Now the points for consideration are:- 1) Whether the order of the Claims Tribunal is correct? and 2) Whether the claimants are entitled for any interest on the award amount of Rs.4,00,000/- from the date of petition till the date of award? 11. The learned Standing Counsel appearing for Appellant / Railways vehemently contended that there is absolutely no evidence to show that the deceased person was travelling in the passenger train No.524 from Devarakadra to Kacheguda; that his dead body was found near railway track and that itself would not indicate that the deceased died in an untoward incident; that, as the claimants failed to establish that the deceased was a bona fide passenger travelling in a passenger train and he died in an untoward incident, the claimants are not entitled for any compensation. He further contended that the claimants are not entitled for any interest, in view of the fact that the Railways Act does not provide for grant of interest from the date of the petition till the date of award and therefore, he prays to allow the appeal and dismiss the cross objections. 12. On the other hand, the learned counsel for respondents/claimants contended that at the time of conducting inquest on the dead body of the deceased, police found two tickets viz., one from Kacheguda to Devarakadra and another ticket from Devarakadra to Kacheguda, which would go to show that the deceased was travelling in the passenger train; that he died as a result of falling from the running train, which is an untoward incident; that the seizure of the tickets from the dead body of the deceased would clearly go to show that the deceased was bona fide passenger who died in an untoward incident; that the Claims Tribunal after consideration of evidence on record, rightly held that the deceased died in an untoward incident. As regards the grant of interest on the compensation amount, he contended that though the Railways Act is silent with regard to payment of interest, Section 3 of the Interest Act, 1978 and Section 34 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 provide for grant of interest from the date of petition till the date of award which is within the discretion of the Court; that the Claims Tribunal has not exercised its discretion judiciously in granting interest and no reasons are assigned for not awarding interest on the compensation from the date of petition till the date of award. Hence he prays to dismiss the appeal and grant interest on the compensation amount from the date of petition till the date of award. 13. The learned counsel appearing for the Railways seriously disputed about the death of the deceased as a passenger in the passenger train in an untoward incident. The burden is on the claimants to show that the deceased died in an untoward incident took place while he was travelling as a passenger in the passenger train. Admittedly there were no eye witnesses to the incident. The dead body of the deceased was traced by the side of the railway track. After receipt of report, police registered a case and conducted inquest on the dead body of the deceased in the presence of mediators. The mediators opined that the deceased died as a result of falling from the running train. 14. The purpose of holding inquest under Section 174 of the Code Criminal Procedure, 1973, is to ascertain the apparent cause of the death of the deceased. As seen from the inquest report, police also seized two passenger tickets bearing Nos. 40550 and 40551. The specific case of the claimants is that the deceased, in the first instance, travelled in the passenger train from Kacheguda to Devarakadra, and after attending to his work there, he was returning to Kacheguda from Devarakadra and that while the passenger train No.524 was passing through Divitapally railway halt station, the deceased fell accidentally and died. The cause of the death as stated by the inquest mediators in Ex.A2 is not denied or disputed. Similarly, Doctor who conducted autopsy on the dead body of the deceased after requisition by the police, opined that the deceased died as a result of rheumatic injuries which could have been possibly caused by falling from a running train. 15. Therefore, the cause of death as recited in Exs.A-2 and A-3 would clearly go to show that the deceased died as a result of injuries sustained by him by falling from a running train. Had the deceased not been a bona fide passenger in the train, the police would not have seized the two tickets from his pocket. It is not the case of the Railways that they have not issued those tickets to the passengers traveling in train No.524 from Devarakadra to Kacheguda. Further more, when AW-1 has specifically stated that the deceased was travelling with a valid ticket from Devarakadra to Kacheguda, the same has not been proved to be false. If the tickets are not issued by the Railways to travel from Devarakadra to Kacheguda, it is for the Railways to establish that they have not issued the said passenger tickets for the train No.524. Such evidence is lacking. The Railways have not adduced any evidence to show that those tickets do not relate to passenger train No.524. So the objective findings with regard to the seizure of the tickets by police during the course of inquest, coupled with other circumstances of the case, would clearly go to show that the deceased was a bona fide passenger travelling in train No.524 from Devarakadra to Kecheguda, and the death of the deceased in an untoward incident has been established by Exs.A-2 and A-3. 16. In view of the foregoing discussion, the claimants have successfully proved that the deceased was a bona fide passenger travelling in the passenger train No.524 and while travelling in the train, he accidentally fell from the train, sustained injuries and died on the spot. The Claims Tribunal after considering the evidence on record, rightly held that the Railways is liable to pay the compensation of Rs.4,00,000/- and hence, therefore, no grounds to interfere with the award passed by the Claims Tribunal, and accordingly the Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is liable to be dismissed. 17. In so far as the cross objections filed for non-granting of interest from the date of the petition till the date of award, are concerned, there is no provision under the Railways Act, 1987 to grant interest on the compensation amount from the date of the petition till the date of award. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in a decision reported in TAHAZHATHE PURAYIL SARABI AND OTHERS VS. UNION OF INDIA AND ANOTHER[1], held thus “ Accordingly, we are unable to sustain the order of Railway Claims Tribunal directing payment of interest on default of payment of the principal sum within a period of 45 days. As we have indicated hereinbefore, when there is no specific provision for the grant of interest of amount due, the court and even Tribunal have been held to be entitled to award interest in their discretion under the provisions of Section 3 of the Interest Act and section 34 of the Civil Procedure Code”. From the above decision it is clear that the Tribunal has got power to grant interest from the date of petition till the date of award which is a discretionary power. There cannot be any dispute that the discretion has to be exercised by the Tribunal judiciously. No reasons are assigned in the impugned order for not granting interest from the date of petition till the date of award. Therefore, the Tribunal has not exercised its discretion judiciously. It is not the case of Railways that the claimants are at fault in not disposing of the case. When the claimants are not shown to be at fault for not disposing of the case, they are entitled for interest from the date of application till the date of award. Hence, the claimants are granted interest @ 6% per annum from the date of the petition till the date of award. 18. At this stage, it is brought to the notice of this Court that, on the decision of Apex Court with regard to grant of interest, the appellant / Railways is going to move a review petition before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, for clarification with regard to payment of interest from the date of petition till the date of award. In view of the same, it is made it clear that the claimants are not entitled to withdraw interest granted by this Court from the date of petition till the date of award. However, they are entitled to withdraw the amounts as per the decree of the Claims Tribunal. The interest awarded by this Court from the date of petition till the date of award shall be kept in a fixed deposit in any Nationalized Bank, pending clarification from the Hon’ble Supreme Court. 19. The Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is accordingly dismissed. The Cross Objections are accordingly allowed to the extent indicated above. There shall be no order as to costs. _______________ K.C. BHANU, J JUNE 03, 2010 YVL [1] 2009 ACJ 2444