New Delhi Station Stampede: Railways Court Rejects Passengers' Refund Demands

New Delhi Station Stampede: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rejected an application regarding non-issuance of refunds for persons unable to board trains due to stampede at the New Delhi railway station. Simply put, the court was faced with impleaders to look for the legal remedies open to them.

This application has been filed by the number of people not able to board trains on the given day and did not receive reimbursement for their tickets.

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Justices Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Tushar Rao Gedela went on to preside over the bench. They noted that the issues that were raised were private in nature and various remedies could be available for such types of cases. Further, they emphasized that the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is meant to enforce certain provisions, and any grievances against the railway authority constitute a personal cause of action.

After some arguments, counsel appearing for impleaders withdrew their application and sought liberty to pursue the necessary legal remedies for their grievance. The court gave that liberty and said, "The application is disposed with liberty as prayed for.

The Delhi High Court on February 19 sought the Railways' response to a Public Interest Litigation, or PIL, against stampede at New Delhi Railway Station at peak hours, which took away 18 lives.

PIL alleged that the stampede on Platform No. 16 was caused due-to overcrowding because there were many long trains on Delhi-Prayagraj route coming at the same time for the Mahakumbh and departing from that route. The claim is that negligence on administrative side has caused this tragedy and violated the fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed that the Railway Board undertake this examination and subsequently file a short affidavit detailing the steps to be taken. The next date of hearing is March 26.

This public interest petition raises the issues of ineffectiveness with which the provisions of the Railways Act, primarily Sections 57 and 147, have been implemented.

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Section 57 specifies that every railway station shall limit the number of passengers such that they can travel in a compartment. These are penal provisions. The petition, therefore, emphasizes that there is strong need to enforce these sections.

Solicitor General for the Railways stated that Administration is not treating this as adversarial litigation and that Railways Board would look into the grievance at highest level.

The plea moved by Arth Vidhi, a group of Lawyers and entrepreneurs, through Advocates Aditya Trivedi and Shubhi Pastor, argued that the Railways violated their own legislative duties as embodied in Sections 57 and 147 of the Railways Act, 1989. Section 57 stated that every railway administration was to fix the maximum number of passengers allowed in each compartment of every type of carriage. Section147 required ticketless entry to railway stations when a person did not have a valid reservation.

The petition made it clear that such rules must be strictly adhered to during the time of the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It has also shown that these rules are never followed in normal situations too when trains and platforms are overcrowded.

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