Stop taking Railway Claims Tribunal for a ride, says S Ananthanarayanan

The Mumbai bench of Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT), the mechanism that decides the compensation of a railway accident victim, has been headless since September 5. The Mumbai tribunal sees more cases than any other RCT bench in the country. Some of the claims, however, are dubious. In August, RCT Mumbai asked the Central and Western Railways to file FIRs with the police. Binoo Nair talks to S Ananthanarayanan, retired member (technical) of RCT Mumbai, about what ails the mechanism.

What ails the railway claims system? 
The infrastructure is fairly adequate. The problem is that litigants need to get documents like station master’s memo, the railway police’s report on the railway accident etc. which prove tough for them. This is where lawyers come in and many of them genuinely help litigants to get their dues. However, there is also a section of lawyers who have realised that the system can be milked. 

You ordered railways to file FIRs against fraudulent claims. What happened after that? 
Sadly, nothing much. Neither the railways nor the police machinery are going after these cases as quickly as they should. The police did come for documents pertaining to these cases. I’m not aware of anything being done since then. Not that I need to be informed, but I believe it is important that it should be followed up.

The FIRs which were filed can still be effective and open doors for more such action towards eliminating malpractice. 

There are cases in court over whether the compensation given to victims — a maximum of Rs4 lakh for death — should be revised.
It should be revised. The rules were made over two decades ago. There might be an increase in fraud claims after the hike, but that should not come in the way of genuine claimants not getting adequate compensation.

The Mumbai bench of RCT has been headless since you retired in September.  
This can be troublesome for litigants; more so, because the Mumbai bench is several times bigger than all other benches in handling claims. The number of accidents because of the suburban system dwarfs the number of claims filed with other benches in the country. Without a head, the number of cases will keep piling up and justice will get delayed.

What is the solution to ensure that the claims mechanism runs smoothly?  
It’s important that the press plays an important role in highlighting the shortcomings in the system. This would also ensure that agencies like the railways or the police start acting on them and take remedial measures. We should remember that many cases filed with RCTs are by some of the poorest people who have lost their sole earning member. The RCT is an important part of the process of giving justice to a railway accident victim. For effective functioning, a first imperative is that the business of taking the RCT for a ride be curtailed.