BHADOHI

North Central Railway

Headquarter

Public Relations

Prayagraj

No. 11PR/10/2019/Press ReleaseDate: 13.10.2019

20^thBench of Railway Claims Tribunal inaugurated at Prayagraj

Today o­n 13.10.2019, the 20th Bench of Railway Claims Tribunal inaugurated in Old General Manager Office of North Central Railway near Valmiki Chauraha by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Govind Mathur, Chief Justice Allahabad High Court, in the august presence of Justice KS Ahluwalia, Chairman, Railway Claims Tribunal,Shri. Rajiv Chaudhry, General Manager, North Central Railway, Shri Sanjiv Aggarwal, Member (Judicial), Railway Claims Tribunal, Allahabad Bench, Shri Madhusudan Rao, Principal Executive Director, Commercial Railway Board. o­n this occasion, the ceremonial function of installation of Member Judicial, Railway Claims Tribunal Allahabad Bench was done by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Govind Mathur, Chief Justice Allahabad High Court afterlighting of lamp, unveiling ofplaque and cutting the ribbon of the new tribunal court room.

          Prayagraj is not o­nly religiously, politically and educationally important city of Uttar Pradesh but it is also a major city of the country as it has the Central Administrative Tribunal, High Court of Uttar Pradesh, other head offices, Headquarters of North Central Railway and Divisional Railway Manager’s office Allahabad. Despite having 3 large divisions and being an important Railway zone, there was no Railway Claims Tribunal o­n the jurisdiction of North Central Railway.Officers and employees here often had to go to Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Ghaziabad.It was more cumbersome for those poor applicants who are resident of Prayagraj and nearby and had to travel to far away Railway Claims Tribunals.Realizing thisneed General Manager NCR Sri Rajiv Chaudhry had been raising this issue at Ministry level from quite some time.

Under the current provisions Chairman of the Railway Claims Tribunal has the authority to set up a new Bench of Railway Claims Tribunal, o­n whose recommendation the Ministry of Railways issues a notification.Due to the efforts General manager North Central railway Sri Chaudhry and Principal Chief Commercial Manager Shri Mahendra Nath Ojha, JusticeShri K. S. Ahluwalia Chairman, Railway Claims Tribunal Delhi approved the opening of Allahabad Bench of Railway Caims Tribunal. In this regard, o­n 12.09.2019, the Hon’ble Railway Minister made a formal announcement in Mumbai and the notification in the Gazette of the Government of India was issued later o­n 12.09.19.

After the notification was issued, NCR acted in mission mode under the overall guidance from its General Manager Sri Chaudhry and immediate action by team of officials from Allahabad division led by DRM Allahabad Sri Amitabha could make it possible to open this bench today in a month’s time which a record in itself . In the old General Manager's Office complex DFCCIL office was functioning , to open new RCT bench their shifting to new office complex , renovation of building , new tribunal court room construction in a very short time was indeed a herculean task which could be achieved by relentless hard work of Railway-men who worked day and night to make this happen .

Though passengers Safety is the prime concern of Indian Railways, however incidents do happen at times and it is very important that victims and their relatives get their legitimate compensation in time.RCT bench at Prayagraj is a milestone towards ease of process and reduced cycle time for claimants from 17 districts covered under it.

         In this new Bench of Railway Claims Tribunal, total 17 districts of Uttar Pradesh Banda, Bhadohi (Sant Ravidas Nagar), Chandauli, Chitrakoot, Fatehpur, Jalaun, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Kaushambi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Mirzapur, Pratapgarh, Prayagraj, SonbhadraandVaranasi arecovered.Besides RCT bench, the administrative head of North Zone(technical) willalso be based at Prayagraj under whose jurisdiction are RCTs at Chandigarh, Delhi, Gorakhpur and Lucknow. At present, about 6300 cases are pending in the Bench of the Railway Claims Tribunal Lucknow. After the establishment of this bench at Prayagraj, about 1900 cases related to these 17 districts will be transferred to Allahabad Bench of which 907 cases have already been transferred. With large number of cases at Lucknow Bench, it was taking almost 4-6 years for claimant to get the compensation in event of accident,however with RCT bench at Prayagraj this time shall be reduced substantially.

During the inaugural function Member Judicial RCT Allahabad Mr. Sanjeev Aggarwal welcomed Hon’ble Chief justice High Court Allahabad,Chairman RCT, General Manager, North Central Railway and PED Commercial Railway Board.

General Manager, North Central Railway Sri Rajiv Chaudhry in his welcome address said that about6300cases of these 17 districts which were pending at Lucknow will now be disposed offin a speedy manner .

PED / Commercial Mr. Madhusudan Rao said that after the establishment of this bench, people of this area will no longer have to go to Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad&Bhopal and the claim cases will be settled soon.

Chairman RCT Shri KS Ahluwalia said that RCT Allahabad bench is a step towards justice at doorstep ofpoor victims and their families from this area who shall be immensely benefited. He further said that General Manager North Central Railway has reat concern for common man and setting up of RCT at Allahabad in record time could be possible with sincere efforts by Sri Chaudhry .

Hon’ble Justice Mr. Govind Mathur CJ High Court Allahabad in his address said that any person with vision, knowledge and energy is bound to succeed and congratulated RCT and North Central railway for fast setting up of RCT bench at Allahabad.he said that with the establishment of this bench, the victims from this area will get justice at their door step. He added that the Bar Association of Allahabad is the most prestigious bar in the country whose full support shall be available for speedy disposal of RCT Allahabad cases.

At the end of the program, RCT Registrar Shri KP Yadav thanked Hon’ble Justice Mr. Govind Mathur CJ High Court Allahabad and all dignitaries present o­n the occasion. He specifically mentioned efforts of GM NCR and his team which was the key in setting up RCT bench at Allahabad at supersonic speed in a month’s time after notification o­n 12.09.19

On this occasion DRM Allahabad Sri Amitabha, PCCM NCR Sri Mahendra Nath Ojha, other Principal Head of departments of NCR, ADRM Allahabad, Mr. Enamul Haque, officials from NCR and Allahabad division, members from Bar association Allahabad , Registrar High Court Allahabad , other distinguished guests from city of Prayagraj and representatives from press & electronic media were present.