SMT. HEENA VINOD VACHHANI AND ORS. vs THE UNION OF INDIA, REPRESENTED BY THE GENERAL MANAGER,

Judgment text excerpt

2026:BHC-AS:21497 HMK 501. FA-1447-2016.doc IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION FIRST APPEAL NO. 1447 OF 2016 1. Heena Vinod Vachhani ) 2. Bhavika Vinod Vachhani ) 3. Harsha Vinod Vachhani ) 4. Kamala Shyamsundar Vachhani ) All residing at 201, Vinay Apartment ) Behind Chopra Court, ) Ulhasnagar-421 003, District Thane. ) ….Appellants Versus The Union Of India, ) Represented By The General Manager, ) Central Railway, Mumbai, CST. ) .…Respondent __________________________________________________________________ Mr. Mohan Rao for the Appellants. Mr. T. J. Pandian a/w. Mr. Gautam Modanwal & Mr. Prasad Sawant for the Respondent. __________________________________________________________________ CORAM : JITENDRA JAIN, J. DATED : 06th MAY 2026 JUDGMENT : 1. This matter was admitted on 10th February, 2026. 2. This appeal is filed by the original applicants challenging an order of the Railway Claims Tribunal, Mumbai (Tribunal), whereby, application made for compensation on account of death of Mr. Vinod Vachhani due to an accident came to be rejected. The Tribunal opined that the deceased was 1 of 11 HMK 501. FA-1447-2016.doc was not a bonafide passenger, since the ticket was not found at the time of the accident and further the accident does not fall within the meaning of “untoward incident” as defined by the Railways Act, 1989, since the deceased was knocked down while crossing the track between Kalyan and Thakurli Railway Station. 3. I have heard Mr. Rao, learned counsel for the original applicants and Mr. Pandian, learned counsel for the respondent. 4. The deceased was a self-employed businessman engaged in the business of electrical goods. On 10th November, 2009, the deceased boarded a train from Ulhasnagar Station to travel to Dadar Stati