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The Railway Claims Tribunal started functioning in the Indian Union on the 8th of November 1989. Before the creation of the Tribunal, the Civil Courts in the country adjudicated all the cases concerning claims against the Railway, while Nominated Claims Commissioners dealt with cases of Railway Accidents. This system was found to be slow and tardy and considerable time was taken before the litigant public could avail of any legal remedy. The cases used to pile up for years and there were woeful and substantial delay in the disposal of the cases.

It was against such a background of administrative necessity that the Government of India decided to create an exclusive organisation to deal with certain kinds of railway related claims and accident cases.

Object of creation

The Railway Claims Tribunal was established through the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 passed in the Parliament on 23.12.1987. The objective was to establish a machinery for deciding claims against the railways, for the following reasons

1. Loss, destruction, damage, deterioration or non-delivery of animal or goods entrusted to them to be carried by railways; for the refund of excess fare or freight paid.

2. Compensation of death/injury to passengers occurring as a result of railway accidents/untoward incidents.

3. Claiming compensation for incidents like terrorists’ acts, robberies, dacoities, violent attacks, rioting, shoot-out, arson etc., in trains or in the precincts of Railway stations.

Development

After the formation of Tribunal, pending cases in the Civil Courts were transferred to the Tribunal from 8.11.1989. The Tribunal responded to the cases mentioned above. Some cases transferred from the civil courts were decade old and the Tribunal disposed the cases quickly. This saved time and expenses for the litigant public as well as the Railways.

Organisational structure

The Railway Claims Tribunal consist of a Chairman, four Vice Chairmen and such number of Judicial Members and Technical Members as the Central Government may deem fit. The rank of the Chairman of the Railway Claims Tribunal is comparable to the rank of a High Court Judge while the Vice Chairman (Judicial)/Judicial Member is a senior-most District & Sessions Judge from the State Higher Judiciary. Vice Chairman (Technical)/Member (Technical) is a retired Senior Administrative Grade officer either from the Indian Railway Traffic Service or Indian Railway Accounts Service well versed with the rules and procedures in claim and commercial matters relating to the railways. As on date, there is one post of a Chairman, 2 posts of Vice Chairman (Judicial), 17 posts of Member (Judicial) and 2 posts of Vice Chairman (Technical) and 18 posts of Member (Technical) in the 18 Railway Claims Tribunals functioning in the country.

Present scenario

The number of pending cases declined to a great extent in most of the Benches after the formation of the Railway Claims Tribunal. This is because of the speedy disposal of cases that could be followed in the Tribunals. Railway Accident cases were given top priority and disposed of quickly.

Advantages of the Railway Claims Tribunal

1. Ensures speedy disposal of cases.

2. Considerable reduction of pending cases.

3. After going through the judgments rendered by the Benches, Zonal Railways were able to settle many claims before them, thereby saving the parties their valuable time and money in recourse to the Tribunals. Railways were also able to save to the exchequer the expenses by way of interest and cost awarded by the Tribunals.

4. Dependents of accident / untoward incident victims secured their compensation quickly. Likewise, the injured are able to suit their cases disposed of quickly.

5. No delay in issue of order copies to the parties as per extent rules.


Message by T.Rajesh Raju, Advocate, Chennai - 093451 47677