Railway Claim Manual
GENERAL RULES FOR DEALING WITH CLAIMS
WHAT IS CLAIM :
A claim against the Railway is a complaint and a formal demand by the rightful claimant in respect of the goods, parcels, luggage and animals entrusted to the Railway Administration for carriage from one station to other station for loss, damages, deterioration, partial delivery or non-delivery.
PERSON ENTITLED TO CLAIM COMPENSATION:
If a railway administration pays compensation for the loss, destruction, damage, deterioration or non-delivery of goods entrusted to it for carriage, to the consignee or the endorsee producing the railway receipt, the railway administration shall be deemed to have discharged its liability and no application before the Claims Tribunal or any other legal proceedings shall lie against the railway administration on the ground that the consignee or the endorsee was not legally entitled to receive such compensation.
Nothing in sub section (1) shall affect the right of any person having any interest in the goods to enforce the same against the consignee or the endorsee receiving compensation under that sub-section.
DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS.:
A) In case of Damages :
i) Original assessment certificate issued by the Railway
ii) Original Trade Invoice/Bill.
iii) Letter of subrogation and special power of Attorney from the consignor/consignee/endorsed consignee if the claim is lodged by Insurance Company.
iv) Mode of payment to the sender if the claim is lodged by the consignee/endorsed consignee.
v) Letter of authority duly attested by the Station Master of the destination station if the claim is lodged by other than consignee/endorsed consignee.
B) In case of short delivery :
In addition to the documents vide sub para ii to v of para (A) following documents are also required :
i) Original shortage certificate/original partial delivery; certificate/original open delivery certificate/original gate pass issued by the Railway.
ii) Under taking to refund the amount to be paid as claim if the missing consignment is subsequently traced and offered for delivery.
C) In case of Non-delivery :
In addition to the documents vide sub para (ii) to (v) of para(A) and sub para (ii) of para(B) following document is also required :
Original Railway Receipt/photo copy of distribution list of magazine consignments booked under FSLA system.
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TIME LIMIT TO LODGE A CLAIM :
(A) A person shall not be entitled to claim compensation against a railway administration for the loss, destruction, damage, deterioration or non-delivery of goods carried by railway, unless a notice thereof is served by him or on his behalf –
a) to the railway administration to which the goods are entrusted for carriage or
b) to the railway administration on whose railway the destination station lies, or the loss, destruction, damage or deterioration occurs, within a period of six months from the date of entrustment of the goods.
(B) Any information demanded or enquiry made in writing from or any complaint made in writing to, any of the railway administration mentioned in sub-section(1) by or on behalf of the persons within the said period of six months regarding the non-delivery or delayed delivery of the goods with particulars sufficient to identify the goods shall, for the purpose of this section, be deemed to be a notice of claim for compensation.
(C) A person shall not be entitled to a refund of an overcharge in respect of goods carried by railway unless a notice therefore has been served by him or
on his behalf to the railway administration to which the overcharge has been paid within six months from the date of such payment or the date of delivery of such goods at the destination station, whichever is later.
Application for compensation for loss etc of goods: An application for compensation for loss, destruction, damage, deterioration or non-delivery of goods shall be filed against the railway administration on whom a notice under section 106 has been served.
TO WHICH RAILWAY THE CLAIM IS TO BE PREFERRED :
According to Section 106 of Railway Act, 1989, application for claim for compensation can be sent either to the Chief Claims Officer of the Forwarding Station’s Railway or to the destination station’s Railway. Notwithstanding this legal provision, the claims are invariably settled by the destination Railway as decided by Rule 314.6 of Indian Railway Conference Association. If the claim application is sent to any Railway other than the Railway on which destination station lies such claims are transferred by that Railway to the destination Railway for dealing with.
POWERS OF THE OFFICERS TO SETTLE THE CLAIMS
1) In terms of Railway Board’s letter No. 77-TC-III/4 dated 22.4.81, powers to settle the claim valuing upto Rs. 400/- have been delegated to the Station Masters of important stations.
2) Asstt. Comml. Manager/Claims : upto Rs. 8,000/-.
3) Sr, Comml. Manager/Claims : From Rs. 8,001/- to Rs.15,000/-.
4) Dy. Chief Comml. Manager/Cl. : From Rs. 15,001/- to Rs. 30,000/-.
5) Chief Claims Officer : From Rs. 30,000/- to Rs. 1,00,000/-.
6) General Manager : Unlimited.
Railway Claim Manual Page No.6
NOTE: Claim cases valuing more than Rs.50000/- be sanctioned after concurrence of Associated Finance.
GENERAL RULES FOR BOOKING OF PARCELS :
EXECUTION OF FORWARDING NOTE :
(a) when parcels tendered for booking contain articles of any of the following categories, they must be accompanied by a forwarding note in the appropriate form, duly executed by the sender or his authorized agent :
(i) articles to be carried at owner’s risk rate;
(ii) Articles of a perishable nature;
(iii)Articles mentioned in part I of Schedule II of the Railways (Extent of Monetary Liability and presumption of percentage charge) Rules, 1990;
(iv) Articles not packed in accordance with the prescribed conditions or articles in a defective condition;
(v) Explosives and other dangerous goods.
(b) Under section 64 of the Railway Act – “(1) Every person entrusting any goods to a railway administration for carriage shall execute a forwarding note in such form as may be specified by the Central Government.
Provided that no forwarding note shall be executed in the case of such goods as may be prescribed.
(2) The consignor shall be responsible for the correctness of the particulars furnished by him in the forwarding note.
(3) The consignor shall indemnify the railway administration against any damage suffered by it by reason of the incorrectness or incompleteness of the particulars in the forwarding note”
(c) Parcels containing articles other than those mentioned above should be accompanied by a parcels declaration note, duly filled in by the sender or his authorized agent, in the form appearing in the I.R.C.A. Coaching Tariff.
GENERAL FORWARDING NOTE FOR COACHING TRAFFIC :–
(a) In order to facilitate the booking of regular traffic at owner’s risk rate, a general forwarding note has been prescribed and its specimen appears in the I.R.C.A. Coaching Tariff. After execution by the sender in the presence of the Station Master, the general forwarding note must be approved by the Divisional Commercial Manager. It will be prepared in three copies of which one copy will be given to the sender, one will be retained by the Station Master and the third copy will be kept in the Divisional Office. A general forwarding note remains valid for a period of six months from the date of its execution. The instructions for the preservation of forwarding notes also apply to the preservation of general forwarding notes.
Railway Claim Manual Page No.7
(b) A merchant who has executed a general forwarding note, can despatch by rail individual consignments without tendering a separate forwarding note for each consignment but particulars of each consignment must be given in the parcels declaration note which should be presented at the time of booking.
(c) If a sender has to despatch any parcel which is defectively packed or is in a defective condition, a separate forwarding note for each such consignment must be obtained even if a general forwarding note has been executed. Similarly, if a parcel contains any explosives or other dangerous goods or articles of a perishable nature required to be booked at railway risk rate, the sender or his agent must execute an appropriate forwarding note for such parcels.
(d) A list of merchants who have executed general forwarding notes should be hung up in the parcels office for the guidance of the staff. The serial number of the general forwarding note should be entered in the railway receipt as well as in other foils of the way-bill.
FILLING IN FORMS OF FORWARDING NOTES BY CONSIGNOR :–
While the station staff must give every assistance to the consignors in filling up the forwarding note forms, these forms must not be filled in by the railway staff on behalf of a consignor. All entries in the form must be filled in ink by the consignor who must properly sign and not merely initial the forwarding note. Similarly, additions and alterations made in the entries must also be signed in full by the consignor. In the case of illiterate persons, their left hand thumb impression should be obtained in token of their acceptance of the correctness of the details entered in the forwarding note, and the name of the person written in English or Hindi below the thumb impression.