Attach Vaigai Express for not paying compensation to accident victim: Madras HC

TIRUCHY: For the first time in the State, a court has ordered to attach an Express train for failing to pay compensation to an accident victim. The Third Additional Subordinate Court (Motor Action Claim Tribunal) in Tiruchy ordered  to attach the Vaigai Superfast Express (from engine to guard carriage) for not paying compensation despite a High Court order, on Thursday.

According to sources, Palanivel (53), a daily wage labourer from Thanjavur, boarded the train to go to Ariyalur from Chennai on February 5, 2003. When the train hit a tractor at an unmanned level-crossing near Vikravandi, Palanivel and several others travelling in the general compartment sustained injuries. Palanivel was rushed to a nearby medical facility in Villupuram district and was later referred to JIPMER hospital in Puducherry. However, he became 70 per cent immobile.

In 2004, Palanivel filed a case in the Third Additional Subordinate Court, seeking a compensation of Rs 7 lakh. “Owing to several reasons and delays on part of the railways, the case came up for trial only in 2014. In 2016, the court ordered the tractor owner to pay a compensation of Rs 2. 23 lakh with interest,” said Palanivel’s advocate R Senthil Kumar. However, Kumar said, they took the case to the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, holding the Railways liable to  pay the compensation. 

From engine to guard carriage
The court, in 2017, ordered the Railways to pay the compensation with interest for all the years. On Thursday, Judge K Vivekananthan ordered to attach the Vaigai Superfast Express from engine to guard carriage for the department’s failure to pay the full compensation to the victim