TEXT :
14.55 hrs.
MR. CHAIRMAN : Now, the House will take up item number 13. Hon. Minister of Railways.
1456 hours
THE MINISTER OF RAILWAYS (SHRI NITISH KUMAR): Sir, I beg to move :
"That the Bill further to amend the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987, be taken into consideration."
MR. CHAIRMAN: Motion moved :
"That the Bill further to amend the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987, be taken into consideration."
MR. CHAIRMAN: Shri P.C. Chacko.
SHRI VARKALA RADHAKRISHNAN (CHIRAYINKIL): Mr. Chairman Sir, I have to speak something about the Railway Claims Tribunal (Amendment) Bill.
MR. CHAIRMAN: I have called Shri P.C. Chacko.
1458 hours
This Bill will enable the Railway Claims Tribunal to implement the pay revision with retrospective effect. Probably, this was left by oversight at the time of introducing the Bill in 1987 and the Bill did not contain a provision for the retrospective implementation of pay revisions coming into effect subsequently.
But, Sir, this is also an opportunity to look back and see whether the Railway Claims Tribunal is working as effectively as it should be even though the Minister was very brief, probably in the overall context in which he is working and the unfortunate accidents which are taking place in the Indian Railways every day. Probably due to that, he was mincing words and did not want to go into details. A very outspoken Minister otherwise was with a very few words today. I can understand the plight of the Minister and also the Minister of State, as the Indian Railways is going through a situation of crisis and a very bad phase of its life. The job of the Railway Claims Tribunal is going to increase manifold because the railway accidents are increasing. The Railways seem to be totally helpless, without any programmes or concrete measures to implement the safety measures which are required by the Indian Railways.
15.00 hrs.
The Claims Tribunal is dealing with a number of items, probably, a number of claims which are likely to come up, not only arising out of the railway accidents but also the cases arising out of the large size of the organisation. The varied claims that arise out of many counts cast a responsibility on the Railways and thus to take care of the constitutional and legal provisions, the Railway Claims Tribunal was created.
I am of the opinion that if the Railway Claims Tribunal, which has been instituted under an Act of Parliament, is not discharging its responsibilities to the satisfaction of the Railway administration, which it owes it to the people in general, then when such a piece of legislation is being discussed in the House, it gives us an opportunity to look back, analyse and see whether such Tribunals are working towards achieving their desired objectives.
Sir, the situation here is something like this. Even though there are provisions for Benches at various places; even though the jurisdiction could be divided; even though the work could be divided amongst the various Benches and even though there are provisions for taking early decisions, yet the cases for claims are piling up before the Railway Claims Tribunal. One of the provisions in the original Act itself says that the Claims Tribunal shall decide every application as expeditiously as possible and ordinarily every application shall be decided on perusal of documents and like that. This shows that this very Act and the setting up of this very institution is for taking expeditious decision on matters of claim.
But we have to analyse the present situation and the present functioning of the Claims Tribunal. I am not attributing any motive; I am not blaming anybody who is constituting the present Tribunal or the persons who are heading this Tribunal. But the fact remains that this organisation or the set up of this Tribunal is not up to the expectation. It is because the large number of claims which are pending are pending for years together. It is expected from a Tribunal like the Railway Claims Tribunal that there would be a time bound settlement of claims. The Parliament passed the Resolution in the year 1987. It has been more than 12 years now. Even though this Amendment Bill has been brought with a different purpose, yet we should see as to how its functioning could be made more effective. We have to analyse as to what remedial measures could be thought of for making the functioning of this Tribunal more effective and efficient.
Sir, the Indian Railways truly represent the country, India. It is because it is a vast national organisation. There are various claims of the passengers which arise out of accidents and various situations. The Claims Tribunal have to be much more effective and much more time bound in taking decisions, otherwise this Tribunal itself would not be able to live up to the expectations of the Parliament.
Sir, there are various provisions in the Act, which inter alia includes the powers of the Chairman, powers of the Vice-Chairman, powers of the judicial Members and powers of the Technical Members. The Parliament, in a very well thought out piece of legislation, has given powers to them. There is no dearth of powers. It has got all the powers of a Civil Court and the decisions could also be executed without going to any appellate body. So, they are self-sufficient for taking decisions and executing the decisions. But the fact remains that even after five, six or seven years, many matters are still pending before the Tribunal. I do not know whether the hon. Minister has applied his mind to this vexed question or not. Even for those people who are approaching the Tribunal for their legitimate claims, for them also it is a foregone conclusion that it would at least take four to five years for their cases to be decided.
Sir, this is probably what is worrying the common man; this is what is worrying the users of the Indian Railways. It is necessary to give the Tribunal the facilities and the retrospective effect of recommendations of the Pay Commission, but at the same time the hon. Minister for Railways has a duty to see that this Tribunal is working more effectively and more efficiently. There are a number of instances.
Sir, I come from a place which is far off from the capital of India.
Railway Ministers in the past had been sympathetic towards the problems of the people of Kerala whether they are with regard to development of railways or of providing new lines and trains. However, it appears that since Kerala is a far off place, the consistent cries and pleas of the people of that State could not reach Delhi. It is difficult for the people sitting in Delhi to listen to us. It appears as though they are trying their best but still our grievances are not being heard. We are facing a similar problem with the Tribunals too.
Sir, the House has the right to know as to how many Benches are functioning and as to whether these Benches are sufficient to handle the cases coming before the Railway Claims Tribunal. While the House is discussing the issue of providing more facilities, removing the lacunae in the way of implementing decisions, on the performance and other things, we have a right to know whether sufficient attention is given to the problems arising in different parts of the country. I think that this mechanism should be increased manifold and that there should be a provision for time-bound disposal of cases.
The subject of judicial reforms is a widely discussed subject in the country nowadays. This issue also is a part of that subject. `Justice delayed is justice denied' is a famous dictum. But the fact remains that several cases are pending before the Railway Claims Tribunal due to various reasons. Cases are piling up without being disposed of for years. Such a situation has to be adequately remedied. This House has got a right to expect an assurance to this effect from the Minister when he came forward to ask for its approval.
Four years back, a tragic accident took place near Quilon and an Inquiry Commission was set up to go into the causes of the accident. The Commission officially came to a very strange conclusion that the accident took place because of a tornado. It was a very interesting conclusion which was ridiculed by experts. Even today, everyday when we look into the newspapers in the morning, we do so with a lot of anxiety. We wish that nothing should happen on that day. But rail accidents have become a common thing today. I am not blaming the Government or the Minister for this. The Government is giving facilities to the Tribunals and we are happy about it. The tribunals should do their job. But the situation is going to go out of control of the people who are to control the things. Where are precautionary steps which are expected to be there? There is no research going on in this field. There are a large number of unmanned level-crossings. Our rolling stock has become almost outdated. People's lives are at great risk. Travelling by rail has become a potential risk because the rolling stock is not serviced properly. I am not saying that the routine work is not being done. But the fact is that danger is lurking in every corner at all times.
The Railways, which is the biggest transport system in the country, is facing a kind of a situation where people's lives are put in great danger. That kind of a situation has to be handled. The consequences of such situations are being handled by the Tribunals. So, the Tribunals should be strengthened. At the same time, it is not our intention to give more and more work to the Tribunals. Let there be as less work as possible for the Tribunals. That is what we want. To achieve that, efficiency of the railway system, safety precautions on the Railway system, etc., are very important preconditions. Otherwise, while we discuss a legislation like this, we may have to appoint Benches in all the Talukas in the country. Even if 500 Benches are set up, the claims which are lying with the Railways today cannot be settled. That kind of a situation is there. When things are going out of our hands, we have to apply our mind on this basic question. This House expects a satisfactory reply to this question from the Railway Minister.
The Railway Claims Tribunals are judicial in nature. Hence people from the judicial background are appointed on this. For the Technical Members on the Tribunal, the qualifications fixed are that a person must be in service for three years drawing the salary of the Joint Secretary. These become the qualifications for the post of Vice-Chairman. Then, the Vice Chairman can act as the Chairman. This kind of a situation gives rise to a lot of manipulation.
So, experts are necessary. Experts are available in this country but their services are not being utilised. Any Act which is available to us, the implementation of it is very important. Here, the responsibility lies squarely on the Minister of Railways and the Ministry of Railways. I want to say that effective implementation of the Tribunal set up is not being done. That is one major defect.
About the facility, the Government should decide of a time-bound implementation or time-bound decision or disposal of the grievances before this set up. These are all very important items. When the Indian Railway lines are soaked with blood, when we are hearing of accidents everyday, when this railway travel has become very risky and seeing the situation which is prevailing in the country today, probably, we have to apply our mind at least to act more swiftly. Just by merely bringing the legislation before the House and saying that it is a very innocent piece of legislation and so ` you pass it', will not be enough. All right, we have no objection in approving this Bill, supporting this Bill. But there are a lot of things to which the Government's attention and the hon. Minister's attention is to be drawn into.
These are the few suggestions which I would like to bring to the notice of the hon. Railway Minister and the Ministry of Railways. With these submissions, I would like to support this Bill. Thank you.
SHRI P.C. CHACKO : I was supporting them.
SHRI KHARABELA SWAIN : Yes, Sir, they are good people in the bad company of Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee and they are good people in the bad company of Shri L.K. Advani because they are very bad people. They are in the bad company of them and Shri P.C. Chacko is in very good company of Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao and the 18 ex-Ministers who are now running to the courts everyday. He is in very good company of them. The onions have washed away all these sins of the past Congress Government... (Interruptions) ... Yes, onions have totally washed away ... (Interruptions)
Now, I come to the subject. Sir, I rise to support this Railway Claims Tribunal (Amendment) Bill, 1998. I will not go into the details because Shri P.C. Chacko has in every detail described the provisions of the Bill. I need not say that this Bill wants to provide powers to the Central Government to make rules retrospectively. I will not repeat it because the hon. Minister has also said so. From 1.1.1996 onwards, the Railways Claim Tribunal people, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman will be able to get the revised pay scales. Previously, 12 years back, the Railway Claims Tribunal came into existence with one retired judge who heads the institution. He becomes the Chairman. There are experts generally one from the Railway Finance Service and one from the Railway Traffic Service, who become Members of this Tribunal. This has been found in the line of the Income Tax Claims Tribunal.
Now, the Central Administrative Tribunal people have also got their salaries and allowances as per the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission. But the Railway Claims Tribunal people have not yet got it, and only by virtue of this Amendment Bill, they will be able to get all these things.
I just want to say that this Railway Claims Tribunal has got two powers. The first is compensation. They given compensation for the loss of goods in transit, for the freight traffic, parcels and things like that. Later on, another responsibility was also given to them. That is the award of accident compensation.
Railways and the court for compensation. If out of an accident, anybody died or sustained serious injuries, then, the relative of the deceased or the victim himself in the case of injuries had to go to the court and the court was taking a pretty long time to settle the disputes. It was felt that the claims could be resolved expeditiously only through these Claims Tribunals. That was the intention.
There are 21 Tribunals all over India. In places like Calcutta and Delhi, there are more than one Claims Tribunal and in all other places like Bhubaneswar, there is only one Tribunal.
The maximum amount of compensation was previously Rs.2 lakh; it has now been enhanced to Rs.4 lakh.
I fully agree with Shri P.C. Chacko that the intention of settling the disputes expeditiously has not been fulfilled. I do not blame the Railway Claims Tribunals because the judicial system of our country itself does not provide for speedy trial of any case. Shri Chacko has mentioned about judicial reforms. I also agree with his contention that judicial reforms are required. I am not going to blame the Tribunals because it is not very easy for the Tribunals, under the present system, to conduct a speedy trial of any case. Anyway, it is an improvement on the Adhoc Railway Safety Commission, which was there previously and which also took a lot of time to settle the disputes.
I also fully agree with Shri Chacko and appeal to the hon. Minister of Railways to make settlement of disputes time-bound. Let him fix a date; say, every case should be settled within two or three months. If he can do this, he can improve upon his predecessors and give speedy justice to the people who have suffered because of accidents all over the country. I appeal to the hon. Minister of Railways that he should think about this and fix a time limit within which a case is to be settled.
My next suggestion is, if the cases are piling up day after day as mentioned by Shri Chacko, then, the number of Tribunals should be increased. If we can have two Tribunals in Delhi, if we are having two Tribunals in Calcutta, why can we not have two Tribunals in other places also? We can have them. After all, we want to dispense speedy justice to our people. If we want to dispense speedy justice, then, we will have to take these measures like increasing the number of Tribunals. This is also my appeal to the hon. Minister of Railways.