Delhi HC asks railways to note PIL raising concerns after railway station stampede
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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Railways to look into the maximum number of passengers and the selling of platform tickets, both of which were raised in a PIL following the recent stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station.
A bench consisting of Chief Justice D K Upadhayaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed the concerned authorities to describe their measures on the issues in their affidavit.
"Let the issues raised in the petition be examined, as suggested by the solicitor general, at the highest level at the Railway Board and thereafter an affidavit be filed by the respondent giving details of the decisions which might be taken by the Railway Board," the court ordered.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the matter was not taken in an adversarial manner and the Railways was bound to follow the law, PTI reported.
He said there was an "unprecedented" situation and assured the court that the issues raised in the PIL would be considered at the highest level.
The court said the PIL was not confined to the recent incident of stampede as it sought implementation of the existing legal provisions with respect to the maximum number of passengers in a compartment and sale of platform tickets.
If the legal provisions were perhaps implemented adequately, such incidents of stampede could be avoided, it added.
The matter would come up on March 26.
A PIL was also filed in the Supreme Court on February 17, two days after the tragic incident that claimed 18 lives and left 15 injured, and sought immediate action to prevent such disasters in the future.
The PIL, filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, sought direction from the Centre and other authorities for implementation and consideration of a 2014 report of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on "Managing Crowd at Events and Venues of Mass Gathering".