Railway Claims Tribunal member's fraud case referred to CJI: Govt

The railways has handed over a case against a member of the Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) regarding the fraudulent disbursement of compensation to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Parliament was informed today.

Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain said this in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

The case, senior railway ministry officials say, pertains to alleged irregularities in the disbursement of around Rs 50 crore between 2015 and 2017, according to an internal probe by the tribunal's principal bench in Delhi.


"This case has been referred to the Chief Justice of India for his orders as to holding an enquiry into the matter and nomination of a judge of Supreme Court for conducting an enquiry into the allegation. The names of five lawyers of Patna have been mentioned in the report," Gohain said.

In a letter to the railway ministry last month, the principal bench's chairman, Justice (retired) K Kannan, recommended a probe by the CBI against the tribunal's Patna bench member (judicial), who passed the compensation orders that are under the scanner, the officials said.

Gohain said that the the tribunal member worked in collusion with a group of lawyers to derive "unlawful monetary benefits", according to the report from the principal bench.