EX मार्च 1710
REGISTERED No. D. 221 रजिस्ट्री सं० डी० 221
भारत का राजपत्र The Gazette of India.
प्रसाधारण
EXTRAORDINARY
TOAL SECRETURITLIBRARY
भाग 2-खण्ड 2
PART II-Section 2
Lon
प्राधिकार से प्रकाशित
NT OF INDIA
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
सं० 11] No. 11]
नई बिल्ली, मंगलवार , मार्च 24 , 1970 /चैत्र 3 , 1892 NEW DELHI , TUESDAY , MARCH 24, 1970 / CHAITRA 3 , 1892
इस भाग में भिन्न पृष्ठ संख्या दी जाती है जिससे कि यह अलग संकलन के रूप में रखा जा सके ।
Separate paging is given to this Part in order that it may be filed as a separate compilation .
LOK SABHA
The following Bill was introduced in. Lok Sabha on the 24th March , 1970:-
BILL NO . 27 OF 1970
A Bill further to amend the Indian Railways Act , 1890 .
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty- first Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
1. This Act may be called the Indian Railways (Amendment) Act, 1970.
Short title.
9of 1890.
2. (1 ) In section 47 of the Indian Railways Act , 1890 ( hereinafter referredto as the principal Act) ,-
Amend- ment of section 47.
(a) in sub -section ( 1 ) , after clause (b ) , the following clause shall be inserted , namely: --
" (bb ) for the cancellation of tickets ( whether with reserva- tion of accommodation or not) , the circumstances under which , and the time-limit within which , such cancellation may be allowed and the charges payable therefor ; " ;
(b ) in sub - section (2 ) , for the words "fifty rupees " , the words " one hundred and fifty rupees " shall be substituted .
(2) All charges levied and collected , or purported to have been levied and collected under the principal Act for cancellation of tickets (whether with reservation of accommodation or not ) at any time before the com- mencement of this Act, shall be deemed to have been validly levied and collected in accordance with law and accordingly no suit or other pro- ceeding shall be maintained in any court for the refund of any such charges.
(289) 290
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3. In section 82C of the principal Act,
Amend- ment of section 82C .
(a) after sub -section (2 ) , the following sub - section shall be in- serted , namely: ----
" (2A) If an applicant desires to be paid interim relief under section 82HH , he may send to the railway administration a copy of the application made under sub -section ( 1 ) with a request for payment of such interim relief." ;
(b) in the Explanation , after the words " In this section " , the words , figures and letters " and section 82HH" shall be inserted.
4. In section 82E of the principal Act , in the proviso to sub- section (1),-
Amend . ment of section 82E.
(a) in clause ( ii ) , the word " and " shall be omitted;
(b ) for clause ( iii ) , the following clauses shall be substituted ,
namely:-
" ( iii) the payment by way of interim relief, if any , made to the applicant by the railway administration under section 82HW is not adequate ; and
(iv) the amount of compensation directed to be paid under this section together with the payment by way of interim relief, if any , made under section 82HH is not likely to exceed the actual amount of compensation that may ultimately become pay- able ." .
5. After section 82H of the principal Act , the following section shall be inserted , namely:--
Insertion ofnew section 82HH,
Interim reliefb'y railway adminis- tration.
" 82HH . ( 1 ) Where on receipt of an application under sub- section (2A) of section 82C and after making such enquiry as it may deem fit, the railway administration is satisfied that circumstances exist which require relief to be afforded to an applicant for compensation immediately , it may, pending determination of the actual amount of compensation payable under section 82A , pay to any person who has sustained injury or suffered any loss , er where death has resulted from the accident, to any dependant of the deceased, such sum as it considers reasonable for affording such relief, so, however, that the sum paid shall not exceed the amount of compensation payable at the rates prescribed under the rules made under section 82J.
(2) The railway administration shall , as soon as may be , after making an order regarding payment of interim relief under sub- section ( 1 ) , send a copy thorenf to the Claims Commissioner.
(3) Any sum paid by the railway administration under sub- section ( 1) shall be taken into account by the Claims Commissioner while determining the amount of compensation payable." .
6. In section 821 of the principal Act, for the figures and letter " 82 ", the figures and letters " 82HH" shall be substituted.
Amend- ment of section 821, SEC. 21
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7. In section 108 of the principal Act , the following proviso shall be inserted at the end , namely :-
Amend- ment of section 108.
"Provided that in the absence of special and adequate reasons to the contrary to be mentioned in the judgment of the court, where a passenger, without reasonable and sufficient cause , makes use of the alarm chain provided by a railway administration , he shall be punished-
(a) in the case of conviction for a first offence , with fine which shall not be less than twenty - five rupees ; and
(b) in the case of conviction for a second or subsequent offence , with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one month ." .
8. In section 118 of the principal Act ,--
Amend- ment of section 118.
(a) in sub - section ( 1 ) , for the words " with fine which may extend to twenty rupees" , the words " with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month , or with fine which may extend to fifty rupees , or with both" shall be substituted;
(b) in sub- section ( 2 ) , for the words " with fine which may ex- tend to fifty rupees ", the words " with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months , or with fine which may extend to one hundred and fifty rupees , or with both " shall be substituted.
9. In section 122 of the principal Act ,-
Amend- ment of section 122 .
(a) in sub -section ( 1 ) , for the words " with fine which may extend to twenty rupees" , the words " with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month or with fine which may extend to fifty rupees , or with both" shall be substituted;
(b) in sub- section ( 2) , for the words " with fine which may ex- tend to fifty rupees" , the words " with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months , or with fine which may extend to one hundred and fifty rupees , or with both " shall be substituted .
10. Section 126 of the principal Act shall be re-numbered as sub- section ( 1 ) thereof, and-
Amend- ment of section 126.
(a) in sub - section ( 1 ) as so re - numbered , for the words " If a person unlawfully " , the words , brackets and figure " Subject to the provisions of sub-section ( 2) , if a person unlawfully- " shall be sub- stituted;
(b) after sub- section ( 1) as so re - numbered, the following sub- section shall be inserted , namely:-
" (2 ) If a person unlawfully does any act or thing referred to in clause (a) or clause (b ) or clause (c) or clause ( d) or clause ( e) of sub - section ( 1 ) ,
(i) with intent to cause the death of any person and the doing of such act or thing causes the death of any person ; or
(ii ) with knowledge that such act or thing is so immi- nently dangerous that it must in all probability cause the [PART II THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY
292
death of any person or such bodily injury to any person as is likely to cause the death of such person,
he shall be punished with death .".
11. After section 126 of the principal Act , the following section shall be inserted, namely :-
Insertion of new section 126A .
Damage to, or des- truction ofcertain railway properties .
" 126A . ( 1 ) Whoever , with intent to cause or knowing that he is likely to cause damage or destruction to any of the properties of a railway referred to in sub - section ( 2) causes by fire , explosive sub- stance or otherwise , damage to such property to the amount of one hundred rupees or upwards , or destruction of such property, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years.
( 2) The properties of a railway referred to in sub - section ( 1 ) are railway track , bridges , station buildings and installations , car- riages or wagons , locomotives , signalling , telecommunication , electric traction and block equipments and such other properties as the Cen- tral Government, being of opinion that damage thereto or destruction thereof is likely to endanger the operation of a railway, may , by notification in the Official Gazette , specify .
(3) Every notification issued under sub - section ( 2) shall be laid before each House of Parliament immediately after it is made if it is in session and on the first day of the commencement of the next session of the House if it is not in session , and shall cease to operate at the expiration of forty days from the date of its being so laid or from the re- assembly of Parliament , as the case may be , unless before the expiration of that period a resolution approving the issue of the notification is passed by both Houses of Parliament .
Explanation. Where the Houses of Parliament are summoned to re- assemble on different dates , the period of forty days shall be reckoned from the later of those dates ." .
12. In section 131 of the principal Act, in sub -section ( 1) , after the figures " 126, " , the figures and letter " 126A, " shall be inserted .
Amend- ment of section 131, SEC, 21
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STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS
It has been found that the Indian Railways Act has no provision au- thorising recovery of cancellation charges when reservations made for rail journeys are cancelled or tickets are otherwise returned for cancellation without being used. Such a provision authorising recovery of cancella- tion charges is essential particularly to curb speculative reservations which cause inconvenience to the general public . In fact , the recovery of such cancellation charges is already provided for in the rules framed by the Railways , but in the absence of an enabling provision in this behalf in the Act , it is doubtful whether such rules could validly be made . This lacuna is proposed to be removed by a suitable amendment of section 47 of the Act with a further provision for validating all past recoveries of cancellation charges .
2. It is also considered necessary to amend sections 82C , 82E , 82H and 821 of the Act to secure prompt relief in the shape of interim payment of compensation in cases of accidents to trains carrying passengers . This interim payment will , of course , be taken into consideration by the Claims Commissioners in making the final settlement of compensation .
en- 3. It has further been noticed that the penal provisions for offences covered under sections 47 , 108 , 118 , 122 and 126 relating to carrying in- flammable articles in trains , unjustified pulling of alarm chain , for training or detraining in unauthorised places , for trespass and for tamper- ing with railway track and wilful wrecking of trains , aré not sufficiently deterrent . These types of offences being quite heavy on the Railways , the penal provisions are sought to be made more stringent by suitably amending those sections .
4. Lastly , it has been found that there is no provision in the Act to cover cases of wanton destruction of Railway property and installations . A new section 126A is , therefore , proposed to be inserted to cover such cases .
5. The Bill seeks to give effect to the above objects .
G. L. NANDA .
NEW DELHI;
The 1st March, 1970 .
PRESIDENT'S RECOMMENDATION UNDER ARTICLE 117 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
[Copy of letter No. 67- TGIV 1036/20 Pt. , dated the 3rd March , 1970 from Shri Gulzari Lal Nanda , Minister of Railways to the Secretary , Lok Sabha. ]
The President having been informed of the subject matter of the Bill further to amend the Indian Railways Act , 1890 , recommends the intro- duction of the Bill under article 117 ( 1 ) and its consideration under article 117 (3 ) of the Constitution .
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FINANCIAL MEMORANDUM
Clause 5 of the Bill seeksto insert a new section 82HH providing for payment of interim relief by the Railway Administrations to the claim- ants for compensation which would be taken into consideration by the Claims Commissioners in awarding the final compensation . The provision will not , therefore , involve any additional expenditure to Government .
The expenditure involved in the payment of interim relief in a parti- cular year will depend upon the number of accidents to trains carrying passengers in that year and the number of passengers killed or those sus- taining injuries. The number of such accidents and the total amount of compensation paid on Indian Railways during the three years from 1966-67 to 1968-09 was as under:-
Year
Total amount Rs .
Total No. of accidents
1966-67
255
22,72,936
259
1967-68
9,75,347
222
1968-69
2,52,988
'Total :
736
35,01,271
245
11,67,090
Average per year
As a result of the various safety measures which are being adopted by the Railways, the average annual expenditure involved in payment of in- terim relief to passengers in a year may not exceed the average yearly compensation paid by the Claims Commissioners during the last three years.
This Bill does not involve any non - recurring expenditure .
SLC. 21
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MEMORANDUM REGARDING DELEGATED LEGISLATION
Clause 2 of the Bill seeks to amend section 47 of the Indian Railways Act , 1890, inter alia for empowering the Central Government to make rules for the cancellation of tickets ( whether with reservation of accom- modation or not) , the circumstances under which and the time limit within which such cancellation may be allowed and the charges payable therefor. In fact, the recovery of such cancellation charges is already provided for in the rules framed by the Railways , but in the absence of enabling provision in that behalf in the Act ,it is doubtful whether such rules could validly be made. The amendment proposed is intended to remove any doubt in that behalf. Moreover, the matters for which the Central Government is being empowered to make rules are matters of detail and the delegation of legislative power is of normal character .
2. Clause 11 of the Bill seeks to insert a new section 126A in the Act for the purpose of punishing persons causing damage to or destruction of certain Railway properties . The various Railway properties to which the new section will apply are specified in sub -section (2 ) of the said section 126A . As it is not possible to enumerate all such properties , power has been taken by the Central Government to specify , by notifica- tion in the Official Gazette , other Railway properties the damage to which or destruction whereof is, in the opinion of the Central Govern- ment, likely to endanger the operation of Railways . Provision has been made in sub - section (3 ) of the new section 126A for laying before Par- liament every such notification issued by the Central Government in the same way as rules made under enactment are laid before Parliament .
3. Under the circumstances , the delegation of legislative power is of normal character.
S. L. SHAKDHER,
Secretary.
PRINTED BY THE GENERAL MANAGER, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA PRESS , MINTO ROAD, NEW DELHI AND PUBLISHED BY THE MANAGER OF PUBLICATIONS , DELHI, 1970