What happens when a farmer ‘legally’ fights against railways? He gets a train

A legal battle against the Indian Railways took various twists and turns before a session court awarded a train to a farmer, the petitioner.

Ludhiana, March 18: How would you react, if a judge hearing a case gives a train, belonging to the Indian Railways, to the petitioner as compensation? Baffled? Laughing?

The case in point is that of Sampuran Singh, a farmer from Katana village in Ludhiana, Punjab. This is how Singh ended up becoming the owner of a train. Actually, the case dates back to 2007. Singh, now 45, had moved the court to seek compensation for his land acquired by the Northern Railways.

In lieu of his agricultural land, which the railways took to build the Ludhiana-Chandigarh railway line, Singh approached the court for an enhanced compensation. Initially, the railways agreed to pay Rs 25 lakh an acre to Singh. However, the court enhanced the compensation from 25 lakh an acre to Rs 50 lakh. Thus, Singh was entitled to Rs 1.47 crore.

But the railways paid only Rs 42 lakh. On Wednesday, as the railways did not clear the entire compensation, the court awarded Swarna Shatabdi Express train -- a property of the railways-- that runs between Amritsar and New Delhi to Singh.

"The court of additional district and sessions judge Jaspal Verma attached the train (number 12030) at the Ludhiana station - technically giving it to the aggrieved farmer - as the Northern Railways failed to comply with the court's order of 2015 to provide enhanced compensation of Rs 1.05 crore to him. It also ordered attachment of the office of the station master," reported Hindustan Times.

What followed after the verdict is more hilarious. Singh and his lawyer Rakesh Gandhi took the court order to Ludhiana railway station where they waited for the train to arrive before handing the document to the driver.

The officials of the station later secured an interim court order giving them control of the train until the case is heard again on Saturday. "If they fail to pay the money by Saturday then the court can sanction an auction," Gandhi said of the 20-coach express train.

The case of handing over a train to an aggrieved farmer by a court is nothing new in India. In fact, several courts in the past have unsuccessfully awarded trains to aggrieved farmers over unpaid dues by the railways.

OneIndia News