The Gujarat High Court has ruled that cases which come for hearing before the Railway Claims Tribunal cannot be adjudicated by a technical member of the tribunal alone and has quashed several such judgments passed by the tribunal. Notably, the diktat came in response to a number of petitions filed before the high court in which the petitioners had challenged the judgment passed by the technical member of the tribunal alone in the absence of a judicial member. Although the railways sought a review of the order, the court refused to do so.

The single judge bench of the court while ruling so relied on the orders passed by the division bench of the high court in connection with an order passed by the Ahmedabad bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). Interestingly, the division bench had set-aside the judgment passed by the CAT on the ground that the single member of the tribunal and that too an administrative member cannot hear and decide the cases since it involved the question of law and its interpretation. The division relied on an apex court judgment which suggests that even if it is assumed that all the powers of the tribunal could be exercised by any single member, it can only be done by a judicial member of the tribunal.

The court also clarified that although the division bench judgment is with regard to the Central Administrative Tribunal, the same principle can be applied in the claim petitions filed before the Railway Claims Tribunal. The bench pronounced that the claim applications put before the tribunal cannot be adjudicated by the technical member of the tribunal alone. Thereafter, the court quashed the judgment passed by the technical member of the Ahmedabad bench of the tribunal. It also remitted the matters back to the tribunal for fresh adjudication of the claim petitions within two months by a division bench of which one of the members should be a judicial member.

Notably, one of the main objectives behind setting up of the Railway Claims Tribunal was to provide quick relief and early payment of compensation with regard to death of railway accidents.

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• Division bench had set-aside the judgment passed by CAT on the ground that the single member of the tribunal and that too an administrative member cannot hear and decide the cases since it involved the question of law and its interpretation.