What
is a Railway Claim (Goods/Animals) - |
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A
railway claim may be defined as a formal demand by the rightful claimant
for compensation in respect of the goods or animals entrusted to the Railway
Administration for carriage from one station to the other and that have
not reached the destination in the condition handed over by virtue of
-
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a)
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Complete
non-delivery of the consignment. |
b)
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Partial
delivery of the consignment. |
c)
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Pilferage,
damage, deterioration of packages. |
d)
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Rotting
of perishables like fruits and vegetables. |
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False
Claims |
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Section
149: Making a false claim for compensation |
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If
any person requiring compensation from a railway administration for loss,
destruction, damage, deterioration or non-delivery of any consignment
makes a claim which is false or which he knows or believes to be false
or does not believe to be true, he shall be punishable with imprisonment
for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
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Time-barred
claims |
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As
per the provision in Section
106 of the Railways Act, 1989, claims for non-delivery
or partial delivery or damage of consignment has to be filed within 6
months from the date of booking of the consignment. After expiry of the
period of six months, the case becomes time-barred and are generally not
entertained. The General Managers of zonal railways are however, empowered
to settle time-barred cases at their discretion after satisfying themselves
about the reasonableness of late filing of claims.
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Suit-barred
claims |
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The
definition of suit-barred cases may be seen in the light of item Nos.
10 & 11 of Part II of the schedule of the Indian Limitation Act 1963 which
read as under :
Description
of Suit |
Period
of Limitation
|
Time
from which period starts
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10.
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Against
a carrier for compensation for losing or injuring goods |
Three
years
|
When
the loss or injury occurs |
11.
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Against
a carrier for compensation for non-delivery of, or delay in delivering
goods |
Three
years
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When
goods ought to be delivered |
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Accordingly,
a claims case which becomes three years old is termed as suit-barred and
thus, no suit can be filed against the railways in regard to that case.
The reasons for the case becoming three years old may be many i.e. for
want of relevant documents (not accompanying the claims notice), for want
of some clarification from the party, etc. after which the claims is normally
repudiated. However, in some cases, the delay in settlement of claims
is on account of the railways i.e. for want of report of the tracing inspectors,
for fixing of Inter-railway liability & Staff responsibility, etc. resulting
in the case becoming suit-barred. Such cases are however, not repudiated
casually as suit-barred but are decided on merit of the case. The General
Managers of zonal railways enjoy the discretionary powers for waiver of
suit-bar aspect.
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Not
Received Cell |
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In
order to achieve the objective of giving better after-sale service to
the customers, the Indian Railways have established "Not Received Cells
(NR Cells) at Divisional & Zonal level. The duty of these Cells involve
tracing and connecting consignments which do not reach the desired destination
within reasonable transit-time. For even better monitoring of cases, an
NR Cell is also working at Railway Board. An aggrieved customer can directly
contact the NR Cell/concerned officer on phone or by E-mail.
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Monetary
Powers of claims settling officers |
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For
settlement of claims, different monetary powers have been stipulated for
officers of the claims offices of the zonal railways. The monetary powers
are given below.
General
Manager |
Unlimited
|
CCM
in HAG or Coordination Head |
Rs.
4,00,000 |
CCO |
Rs.
2,00,000 |
Dy.
CCM(Claims) or Dy. CCO |
Rs.
60,000 |
SCM
|
Rs.15,000
|
ACM
|
Rs.
8,000 |
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Claims
for unbooked luggage |
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No
compensation is payable for unbooked luggage or luggage which is in the
care and custody of the passenger.
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Beware
& Take Care |
(a)
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No compensation for unbooked luggage or for luggage in the care & custody
of the passenger.
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(b)
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Do
not mis-declare the contents of the consignment. |
(c)
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Filing false
claims will invite punishment/Fine or both. |
(d)
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Railways do not pay compensation for goods booked at
owner's
risk. |
(e)
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Always conform to prescribed packaging conditions while packing goods
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(f)
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Railways
are liable to pay only 50% of the amount of liability for goods (normally
to be carried in covered wagons), but carried in open wagons at the request
of the party.
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(g)
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Railways are not liable for shortage in consignments booked on "Said to
Contain" Railway Receipt i.e. booking is not supervised by railway staff.
For such cases, the onus for proving the weight of the booked consignment
or the number of packages in the consignment lies with the consignor as
per Section
65(2) of Railways Act, 89.
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(h)
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Avoid repudiation as
Time-bar
! File your claims within six months from the date
of booking of consignment. |
(i)
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Avoid repudiation as Suit-bar
! Enclose all
necessary
documents with the claims application.
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(j)
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Get value of your lost consignment ! Pay %age
charge while booking ! |
(k)
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Avoid damage by wet, etc. ! Remove the consignment from the platform at
the earliest. |
(l)
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Take delivery of consignments within 7 days of arrival ! Unclaimed
Consignments will be
disposed off as per stipulated procedure !
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