The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Union Government to appoint a Claims Commissioner at the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to consider and decide applications for compensation by accident victims on its premises.
Justice Manmohan said the Claims Commissioner should be appointed, preferably within eight weeks.
Earlier, counsel for the Union Ministry of Urban Development submitted that a proposal for appointment of a DMRC official as Claims Commissioner had been sent to the Cabinet Appointments Committee. The counsel further said the Committee was likely to take a decision within eight to 10 weeks.
The Court was hearing a petition by Asiya Begum, whose son died after falling from an overcrowded escalator at Chawri Bazar metro station in 2011. She had demanded a compensation of Rs.10 lakh.
The Court disposed of the petition with the direction that Ms. Begum was free to raise her claim before the Claims Commissioner.
She moved the Court when the DMRC rejected her claim for compensation by absolving itself of any fault in the accident. It said her son died due to negligence on his part.
The Court had last month pulled up the DMRC for the delay in appointment of a Claims Commissioner.
