Delhi High Court talks tough over New Delhi railway station stampede, says 'Why sell tickets beyond limit ?'
PTC News Desk: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rapped Centre and Railways over New Delhi railway station stampede that killed 18 people including several children. The court also questioned the authorities over selling the tickets beyond the capacity of passengers in a coach.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela observed while hearing a plea seeking safety measures to such incidents of stampedes at railway station in the future.
"If you fix the number of passengers to be accommodated in a coach, then why do you sell? Why does the number of tickets sold exceed that number? That is a problem," it said.
"Are you aware of how many lakhs of people were at the station that day? Infrastructurally it may not be possible to control that kind of crowd. The subsequent measures were taken. It is not something like a railway accident to claim negligence," Justice Gedela said.
"Show what steps you will take to implement existing laws that limit number of passengers in coaches and penalise persons entering without authority. From a perusal of the relevant sections (of the Railways Act)... every railway administration is under a statutory mandate to fix a certain number of passengers... and this number shall be exhibited conspicuously outside coach," the court further said.
"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 said.
The next hearing on the matter will be held on March 26.
- With inputs from agencies
