MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI R. VELU)
(a) Time allowed to the claimant to file compensation claim before Railway Claims Tribunal
(RCT) is one year in case of accident claim ftom the date of accident, and three years in
case offarelfteight claim ftom the date of fare / fteight paid to the Railway.
(b) During the year 2005-06 (up to 31.1.06), three cases of refund offare were disposed of
and amount decreed was Rs. 3,145, and 149 cases of accident claims compensation were disposed
of and amount decreed was Rs. 1.78 crore by the Railway Claims Tribunal.
(c) A total of 25,914 cases were pending before RCT as on 31.1.06. Main reasons for
pendency are as follows:
(i) Adjournment sought by the Applicant/their Counsel for producing evidence, documents, etc.
(ii) Transfer of claims cases ftom one Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) Bench to the
other, sought by the claimants.
(iii) Non-availability of heirship title with the claimants in accident compensation claims
cases.
(d) To streamline the functioning of Railway Claims Tribunal the following steps have been taken/ proposed to be taken for expeditious disposal of cases.
1. RCT (procedure) Rules have been amended, these cover:
(i) An application for accident compensation cases can be filed before the Bench having
territorial jurisdiction over the place from which the passenger purchases ticket/obtains his
pass, or where the accident or untoward incident occurs or where the place of destination
station lies or where the claimant normally resides.
(ii) RCT to pronounce an order with in 21 days after final hearing.
(iii) Earlier the affidavits were attested by Notary Public. For the convenience of
claimants, the Registrars ofRCT have also been empowered to attest the same.
(iv) The Registrar of the Tribunal has been empowered to monitor and see that the
payment of compensation award is made expeditiously to the claimants by the
Railway Administration.
2. Chairman, Railway Claims Tribunal is empowered to depute a Member of one Bench to
the other Bench for holding Circuit Bench to clear the backlog in case of vacancy in that
Bench.
3. Following administrative measures are also taken:
(i) An Accident cell is set up at each zonal Head quarter to provide assistance for
filing accident compensation clainl and monitor them till the satisfaction of decree
in the Railway Claims Tribunal.
(ii) After the decree has been passed, payment of accident claims compensation is
made at the earliest.
4. Computerization of Railway Claims Tribunal has been sanctioned for the year 2005-06
which will provide the facility of on line registration and checking of status of the claims
cases pending with Railway Claims Tribunal.
