Chairman of the Railway Claims Tribunal, Justice K. Kannan has assured that the number of pending cases in 22 benches across the country will be liquidated soon.
“There are about 33,000 cases pending trail across the country and we are not happy about it. I assure that all these cases will be liquidated soon. A case at the Railway Tribunal should not take more than six months to be liquidated and I assure that we will ensure speedier delivery of justice to victims,’’ said Justice Kannan after inaugurating the South Central Railway Claims Tribunal, Amaravati Branch, on the premises of Guntur Railway Station.
Attributing the pendency in clearing the cases due to delay in securing reports from GRP and RPF personnel, Justice Kannan said that continuous training sessions have been given to railway security personnel in furnishing delivery reports.
Stating that death in an accident is the most unfortunate thing, Justice Kannan remarked, “Death is never a happy thing and happens due to an untoward accident. The Tribunal does not even go to the root of human folly in an accident and we just award compensation to families and in some cases, we even awarded compensation to those families who have not asked for it.”
Citing the compensation awarded to victims of the deadliest train crashes in recent times, the Pukhrayan rail accident which claimed 178 lives in November 2016, Justice Kannan said that claims have been settled in a record span of time. The recent accident during Ramlila celebrations at Amritsar, which claimed more than 50 lives, does not come under the purview of tribunal as the victims are not railway passengers.
The SCR Tribunal at Secunderabad has about 1,600 pending cases relating to incidents in Andhra Pradesh and all these cases would be shifted to the Tribunal at Guntur.
Judge, High Court of Judicature of Hyderabad, Justice V. Ramasubramanian inaugurated the tribunal office. SCR General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav, and Divisional Railway Manager, Guntur, V.G. Bhooma were present.
