(Delivered on 06/11/2019)

PER MR. JUSTICE A.P.BHANGALE, HON’BLE PRESIDENT.

1.         By this  complaint  the widow of deceased Sampatraj Kotecha has filed this complaint with a  prayer  for compensation  and cost of the complaint on the ground  that  when her husband  was  to travel  from Nagpur to Jaipur on 20/01/2016 by  Train No. 08243 which was special train known as Bilaspur Bhagat Ki Kothi. Mr. Sampatraj Kotecha had confirmed ticket  bearing PNR No. 6650845244 with  confirmed bearth  No. 59 in coach No. S-5.  Late Sampatraj Kotecha arrived at Railway Station  at 12.15 a.m.  dropped by his elder son Mr. Anish Kotecha. When he entered in the premises  of Railway Station  at Nagpur due to sudden untoward incident  he had  lost his consciousness and fell ill on the spot.  According to the complainant,  her son as well as  her neighbour   requested to  the Deputy Superintendent  to take  urgent  steps  when  Sampatraj Kotecha was  lying on  stretcher from 12.51 a.m. to 1.06 a.m.  but he was lying unattended.  The request was made to the Railway Authority at 12.50 a.m.,  but no ambulance  nor any doctor was   called to  attend of  the patient  and no efforts were  taken for more than  45 minutes  so as to shift the patient  to  near by  Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital. In the resulted complainant lost her husband, diagnosed as suffered from  heart attack on Railway Platform itself.  The complainant  had made request by letters  to the Railway Authority  to   hold  an  enquiry and investigate the negligence  and  also cause of death  of  her husband as no   attending     doctor   had attended  on behalf of the  O.P. Railway  and due to negligence  in rendering  timely   medical aid,  husband of the complainant  was lost forever due to tragic incident  of death on the  railway platform  of  Nagpur  Railway Station. According to the complainant  the O.P. Railway has failed to  provide  timely   medical  attention and aid,  nor provided ambulance  for shifting the patient  to   nearby hospital, and  the  patient  was left   on the platform  and he died due to   lack of attention.  The complainant   has therefore prayed for compensation  in the sum of Rs. 72,00,000/-  towards  the loss of company of husband  to the tune of Rs. 25,00,000/- and cost of litigation  in the sum of Rs. 10,000/-.

 2.         The O.P.- Railway did not dispute that  the husband of the  complainant  was to travel  from Nagpur to Jaipur  by train No. 08243 on 20/01/2016. However, it is contended that  there was no deficiency  in service  on the part of the railway administration  nor any  unfair  trade practice  so as to compensate  the complainant   on the grounds  as alleged  of  negligence, lack of care and attention  of the patient  on the railway platform. The learned advocate for the  O.P.-Railway  have relied upon affidavits  filed  by Dr. Priti Dattatrya Deotare  and Deputy Station Superintendent (Commercial) Nagpur Mr. Pramodkumr Manoharrao Shende and Head Constable of RPF, Nagpur  Mr. Shashikant  Motiram Gajbhiye as also  Indian Railway Medical Manual  Clause 674 regarding  use of ambulance  cars  by lady doctor in emergency which  indicate  that  the  lady doctor  on duty  serving  railway administration  is allowed  to use ambulance car  for going to the  patient’s  house  and to travel  to the hospital  or  residence   in  emergency  condition  when  called for  house  visit  or  call  is received  from unknown  quarter or received at night.  Thus, lady doctor  can   bring patient for admission to near by hospital  or   to take  him  to his house.  According to the lady doctor   Dr. Priti Dattatrya Deotare  she was  on duty on  the night  between 19/01/2016  and 20/01/2016 to look after outdoor patient  with  Train Call Duty. She had in fact   received the call from Smt. Vijaya Dhone, Nursing Sister at about  00.45 hours  that  nurse would be  sending  the ambulance at  his residence  to pick up her  for attending  the  injured patient  . However,  after waiting  for about  10 minutes for ambulance  which  was expected  she received  another  call  from  casualty sister  informing her that the ambulance  was redirected towards  Railway Station  for shifting  the patient  and at around 1.20 a.m.  the casualty sister    informed  her that  ambulance  had reached at Railway  Hospital  after  shifting  the  patient  at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital. While  Head Constable  Mr.  Shashikant  Motiram Gajbhiye stated that  some unknown person was lying  on the foot  over bridge of platform Nos. 2&3 at about 00.30 hours  on 20/01/2016 and the head constable at reached the spot and  searched  for   the  belongings  of the unconscious person to verify the ticket and mobile   and found  journey ticket having  PNR No. 6650845244 of train No. 08243 from Nagpur to Jaipur and that  mobile was also recovered. According to him   body of that  person  was cold and there was no response  from that person. He also  came to know  by use of  the mobile phone   that  one  Mr. Anish the son of Sampatraj Kotecha  had  dropped him at Railway Station.  According to the Head Constable  he had  called Handicap Van   and Deputy  Station Superintendent    have been advised to  arrange the ambulance to  shift the person  to  the  Mayo Hospital, Nagpur  and patient  was carried in Handicap Van to the  office of  Deputy  Superintendent, Station  at Nagpur Railway Station  and then  by ambulance  said person was  shifted to the Mayo Hospital, Nagpur.  While  Deputy  Station  Superintendent (Commercial) Nagpur Station  stated  that  at about  00.35 hours  on  20/01/2016 one unknown  injured person was  lying  on   platform  No. 3 at Itarsi end and  he had  informed  the  casualty  of Railway Hospital to arrange  the ambulance. At 00.40 hours  the RPF personal  has brought  unknown person  in  unconscious  state  in a Battery Car. At about 12.45 hours  Mr. Shende  had  informed  about  the need of  doctor to attend the patient   and nursing sister  Smt.  Vijaya Dhone  made call to  duty doctor.  Ambulance  had  reached to the porch of the  Nagpur  Railway Station  at about 1.00  hours.  Family members of the deceased person who   had  reached  the  office of the  Deputy Station Superintendent,  requested that  help of  Male  Health Attendant  to  shift the patient  in ambulance and family members  accompanied  to him to Mayo Hospital, Nagpur.

3.         The affidavits read  together would indicate that the incident lasted from 00.35 hours till about 1.00 hours. The doctor  concerned  who was  on duty  was not  brought  to the station  to attend  the patient lying  on the  platform  but  constable  who was supposed  to carry  the patient  to  the near by hospital  may have wasted   his time  to recover the mobile phone  and journey  ticket in getting  more details  and also to  contact  by  use of this mobile  phone  to  the son of the deceased instead of  immediately arranging  the ambulance  to take the  patient  to the near by hospital.  During  such  cases delay  in  carry  the patient immediately   to the  nearby  hospital  of the Railway  Station  may turn out to be  fatal  interest for  patient if he suffered  from heart attack. Even assuming  that  he suffered from   heart attack and   lost his life  on platform  the time which was required  to  attend to patient promptly  and to  take necessary steps which are required  as immediate major  to  possibly   save   the life  of the patient  it could not be  taken  as doctor  was not  brought  immediately to the platform  to attend the patient.  Doctor  had   to  wait  40 to 45 minutes   for  ambulance  to take  her  the  patient.  In our view  immediate measures  should have been taken  to get  the  doctor on duty  to immediately  attend the patient  lying on platform  within the  railway  premises  so that  necessary  examination  of the  patient  could have been  done by the doctor  immediately.  However,  that   was not done in this case .

 4.         When we  queried    about  maintainability  of the  complaint  in view of the  Railway Claims Tribunal which is available to  compensate  the railway passenger  losing their life within  the railway   premises.  The learned advocate for the  complainant brought to our attention  the ruling  in Smt. Nirmal Devi Chopra Vs. Union of India , decided by the  Hon’ble National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission  on 16/09/2013 which  related to the  identical  case  that  no medical  aid  was  given to the patient  immediately  at Ghaziabad  Railway Station  for over an hours and in that case  doctor  did not  attend  the patient  nor  medical  aid was given  in the  hospital. In that  case patient was  serious    and could not  get medical  aid due to   the negligence, inaction  on part of the railway authority and no explanation    was forthcoming as to  why the train  could not  halt at   the  Ghaziabad. According to the  Hon’able  National  Commission   had  the medical  aid   been given to the  patient  at Ghaziabad Railway Station  it could have  saved the   life of the deceased.  Since no ambulance  was called  at Ghaziabad Railway Station  or  even  at  New Delhi Railway  Station.  The patient  was carried  on railway luggage trolley  i.e. Thela. The  Hon’ble National Commission  had awarded  compensation  in the sum of Rs. 10,00,000/-  payable within 90 days otherwise to  carry  interest at the rate of 9% p.a. till  realization.  In the  present  case  it was not the  case of traveling  passenger    but the passenger who was to  travel but  unfortunately  suffered  heart attack while on the  platform on falling   seriously  ill.  The facts though  distinguishable are  convincing     to believe that  when the  patient was lying  on the platform  and was about to  travel  the    doctor  who was  on duty  at the  relevant  time  could have been  immediately  summoned  to attend  the patient. According  to Mr. Lambat, learned advocate for the  O.P.   the doctor  was away  on duty   and not in  the  station  itself.  Be that  as it    may,  the  railway authority  could have been  diligent  to make  available  immediate  medical  assistance  to the passenger   who was to travel alone under  the valid  journey reservation  ticket in the present  case.  Had the railway  authority  kept  the doctor  on duty readily available  within  the railway  premises  at any platform precious life of  a person   suffering  from heart attack can be and could have been  saved   by prompt  medical measures taken by doctor  such as resuscitation    so as to save  the life  of  the patient  by restoring  breath cycle . While taking  immediate  measures  when some  one  suffers from unfortunate  heart attack at public place like railway  platform within the  railway premises . We therefore  also compensate the patient  however looking    at the  statutory  compensation  as awardable  in cases of  towards incident   in respect of   railway  accident  case  the amount  of Rs. 4,00,000/- is  present  maximum  limit of compensation. In our view therefore  it would be just and proper  to direct the O.P. to pay  monetary  compensation  in the sum of Rs. 4,00,000/- to the complainant  who is widow  of deceased  passengers  with sum of Rs. 5000/- towards  cost of  the complaint.  We direct the  Railway Authority  to pay  the  sum amount  within   period of 90 days, failing which  the outstanding  amount  shall  carry interest  at the rate of 9% p.a. until  realization  of the amount by the complainant. . Complaint  is partly allowed.