Indian Railway which introduces fast trains like Vande Bharat should also speedily redress citizens' grievances: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Monday pulled up the Indian Railways over the delay in redressing the grievance of a man (petitioner) who sustained a bullet injury after a gun was misfired by a railway policeman. [Manaf M v Union of India & Ors.].Justice PV Kunhikrishnan criticised the Railways for unnecessarily dragging the victim through litigation and urged the authorities to address such complaints in a more timely manner, so as to instill public confidence..“The Railway is introducing fast trains like 'Vande Bharat', 'Rajdhani', 'Jan Shatabdi' etc. But Railway ought to have redressed these types of grievances of the citizens also in speed track to build confidence in the citizen without dragging citizens to litigation," the judge added. The Court made the observations while ordering Railways to pay a compensation of ₹8.2 lakh to the petitioner..The Court also expressed a dim view over the railway authority's decision to contest the petitioner's plea for enhancement of compensation. Referring to the detailed counter-affidavit filed by the authority in the present case, the judge said, "I am of the considered opinion that in a situation like this, the Railway ought to have risen to the occasion and redress the grievance of the petitioner without asking the victim, like the petitioner, to lead a legal battle. All legal battles are worth fighting, but some are not worth winning.".The petitioner had sustained the bullet injury in 2012 while he was on his way to the reservation counter of the Thampanoor Railway Station in Thiruvananthapuram. A bullet hit his abdomen after a railway police officer at the station misfired his gun. The railway authorities eventually offered to pay him a compensation amount of ₹1.20 lakh after setting up a special board to examine the case. However, the petitioner contended that this amount was not sufficient to compensate him for the trauma undergone by him as a result of the injury. Hence, he approached the High Court to enhance the compensation amount to ₹20 lakh. The petitioner contended that he had suffered permanent disability, and was not able to lead a normal life. The Court was also told that the incident had occurred due to the gross negligence and carelessness of the railway policeman..The Railways department questioned the maintainability of the petition before the High Court, while pointing out that it had already offered an amount of ₹1.20 lakh as compensation. .However, the High Court did not find favor with stance adopted by the Railways department and questioned whether the sum offered by the authorities was sufficient to compensate the petitioner for his trauma and suffering. .After examining the medical records of the petitioner and considering the trauma and agony suffered by him, the Court ultimately held that the petitioner was entitled to a total amount of ₹8.20 lakh as compensation.“Therefore, the petitioner is entitled to a total amount of ₹8,20,000. The petitioner is entitled to interest also for the said amount at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the incident," the judgment stated. .The petitioner was represented by advocates A Abdul Kharim and M Sreekumar. Advocates C Dinesh, TC Govinda Swamy and G Shyam Raj represented the respondent-authorities, namely the Union of India, the Southern Railways, Chennai, the Division Manager of the Thiruvananthapuram division of the Southern Railways, and a Railways constable. .[Read Judgment]