Delhi High Court Seeks Railways Response In PIL Over New Delhi Railway Station Stampede

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (February 19) sought a response from the railway authorities in a public interest litigation filed over the recent stampede that occurred at New Delhi Railway Station on February 15.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed the railways to file a short affidavit in the PIL alleging ineffective implementation of the provisions contained under the Railways Act, especially Sections 57 and 147.

Section 57 states that every railway administration shall fix the maximum number of passengers which may be carried in each compartment and shall exhibit the number in a conspicuous manner inside or outside each compartment in Hindi, English and in one or more regional languages commonly used in the areas concerned.

Section 147 is a penal provision stating that any person who enters into any part of a railway without lawful authority shall be punishable with imprisonment for upto six months or a fine or both.

The plea has been filed by an organization- Arth Vidhi, through Advocate Aditya Trivedi.

The petitioner's counsel submitted before the Court that the plea concerns purely the legal violation of the provisions of the Railways Act by the authorities.

During the hearing, Justice Gedela orally told the petitioner's counsel that subsequent measures had been taken in the matter by the authorities and that it was an unfortunate incident but it was not the case of negligence or a railway accident.

The petitioner's counsel submitted that on the date of incident, over 9600 unreserved tickets were sold and that the incident could have been prevented if the authorities complied with the statutory obligations.

“If railway could have complied with its own rules and provisions, lot of the things could have been prevented. The petition is in national interest and larger public interest. I am not commenting on infrastructure or policy issues,” the counsel said.

SGI Tushar Mehta appeared for the railways and submitted that the railway administration is not treating the petition to be adversarial litigation and that the matter shall be examined by the railway board at the highest level.

He said that the authorities are bound by law and there should be no question of any mandamus being issued for the authorities to follow the law. Any lacunae can always be taken care of, he said.

On this, CJ Upadhyay orally remarked that if the legal provisions were perhaps implemented adequately, such incidents of stampede could be avoided.

“Let the issues raised be examined as suggested by the SG at the highest level by the railway board and a short affidavit be filed by the respondents giving details of the decisions which might be taken by the railway board. The same shall be filed by the next date of hearing,” the Court said.

The matter will now be heard on March 26.

Case Title: Arth Vidhi v. Union of India & Ors.