Railway tribunal bench debuts in Allahabad

Allahabad: A Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) in the city will bring justice to the doorstep for people, said chief justice of Allahabad high court Govind Mathur while inaugurating the Allahabad bench of RCT on Sunday.

This is the 20th bench of the tribunal and is housed in the North Central Railway (NCR) general manager’s old office near Valmiki Chauraha.

It will cater to claimants from 17 districts, including Allahabad and Varanasi.

Chief Justice Mathur, who lit the ceremonial lamp, unveiled a plaque and cut the ribbon to inaugurate the new tribunal court room, maintained that the Bar Association of Allahabad was the most prestigious Bar in the country whose full support would be available for speedy disposal of RCT cases here.

The function was attended by chairman of RCT Justice KS Ahluwalia and general manager of NCR Rajiv Chaudhry, among others.

Despite being an important zone under North Central Railway, there was no RCT bench in Allahabad and applicants had to visit to Lucknow, Gorakhpur or Ghaziabad instead. Also, piling cases at these benches meant delayed compensation for every genuine claimant.

The new bench is a milestone towards easing the process for claimants from 17 districts, namely Banda, Bhadohi, Chandauli, Chitrakoot, Fatehpur, Jalaun, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Kaushambi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Mirzapur, Pratapgarh, Sonbhadra, Varanasi and Allahabad.

Currently, there are 6,300 cases pending before the Lucknow RCT bench. Around 1,900 of them from the mentioned districts will be transferred to Allahabad bench. As many as 907 have already been transferred.

Besides an RCT bench, the administrative head of north zone (technical) will also be based in Allahabad under whose jurisdiction Chandigarh, Delhi, Gorakhpur and Lucknow RCTs come.

In his welcome address, NCR boss Chaudhry said speedy disposal of claims was the objective of the new RCT bench. RCT chairman Justice Ahluwalia said underprivileged applicants would be immensely benefited.