The Delhi high court on Wednesday asked the Railways to examine the fixing of maximum passengers and sale of platform tickets -- issues raised in a public interest litigation (PIL) over the recent stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela asked the authorities concerned to state in its affidavit, the details of the decision taken by it on these issues.
The court said the legal provisions on the issue of crowd and passenger management appeared to have been 'neglected all along'.
"Not fixing the strength to be accommodated in a particular coach, this provision appears to have been neglected all along.. If you fix the number of passengers in each coach then why do the number of tickets sold exceed that number? That's the problem," said chief justice Upadhyaya.
The bench therefore ordered, "Let the issues raised in the petition be examined, as suggested by the solicitor general, at the highest level in the Railway Board and thereafter a short affidavit be filed by the respondent giving details of the decisions which might be taken by the Railway Board."
The counsel for petitioner Arth Vidhi said the tragic incident on the night of February 15, which claimed 18 lives and left 15 injured, revealed 'gross mismanagement' and failure of administration.
He claimed despite the provisions of the Railways Act mandating the authorities to specify the maximum number of passengers to be carried in each compartment, over 9,600 tickets were sold, and there was no check on entry of people without platform tickets.
"I am not commenting on infrastructure or policy but if the provisions were complied with, a lot could have been prevented," said the counsel.
The court observed that the PIL was not confined to the recent incident of stampede as it sought implementation of the existing legal provisions, which if implemented adequately, could avoid such incidents.
"If you implement Section 57 (on fixing maximum passengers) in letter and spirit, perhaps on a particular day, the unreserved compartment tickets would not exceed the number of passengers (permitted).. If you would implement a simple thing in a positive manner, such situations can be avoided. At the time of rush like these days, you can increase the number of passengers to be accommodated," said chief justice Upadhyaya.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, in response, said the PIL was not taken in an adversarial manner and the Railways was following the legal mandate.
Mehta assured that the provisions were not neglected and any lacuna would be ironed out.
He said there was an 'unprecedented' situation and the issues raised in the PIL would be considered at the highest level by the director of the railway board.
The court was also informed that compensation was given to the aggrieved persons.
"We have already issued a circular.. but difficulty is some people who are poor they do come and sit in the unreserved class. We have our own country specific issues. During the rush, which is generally not anticipated, some situations do arise," said Mehta.
He further said, "It is an unfortunate incident but infrastructure or implementation of rules in case of something unprecedented may have its own limitations."
During the hearing, Justice Gedela said the incident was no doubt tragic but it was not a case of railway accident involving negligence.
At least 18 people were killed in the overnight stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station which witnessed a surge of passengers waiting to board trains for Prayagraj -- where the Maha Kumbh is underway -- on platform numbers 14 and 15.
The matter would come up on March 26.
© 2025