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A. B. Thakkar v. Western Railway and Central Railway Divisional Manager, Indian Railway

Bombay HC16 Jan 2015PIL/243/2009

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

In a PIL regarding senior citizens on Mumbai suburban trains, the court directed Western and Central Railways to provide 14 easily accessible reserved seats in II Class compartments, ensuring easy entry for the elderly without reducing existing facilities for the disabled or pregnant women, with compliance by April 15, 2015.

What did the court decide?

Direction to Central and Western Railways to provide 14 easily accessible reserved seats for senior citizens in II Class suburban trains by April 15, 2015, without curtailing facilities for the disabl

A. B. Thakkar Vs Western Railway and… — Constitutional and Fundamental Rights | Bombay HC (2015)

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CIVIL APPELATE JURISDICTION
 SUO MOTU PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO.243 OF 2009

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A.B.Thakkar
vs.

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Western Railway & Central Railway
Divisional Manager, Indian Railway ...Respondent

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Mr.M.S.Karnik, Advocate Amicus Curiae for the
petitioner

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Mr.Anil Singh, ASG a/w Mr.Suresh Kumar for the
respondent No.1

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Ms Nisha N. Valani for respondent No.2-UOI

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CORAM : A.S.OKA, &
 A.K.MENON, JJ.
 DATE : JANUARY 16, 2015

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ORAL JUDGMENT : (PER A.S.OKA,J.)

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1We have heard the learned Amicus Curiae. We
have heard the learned Additional Solicitor General
of India on behalf of the Railways. We have perused
the earlier orders passed by this Court on 20th March
2014, 23rd April 2014, 27th June 2014, 24th July 2014,
4th December 2014 and lastly 23rd December 2014. The
important issue raised by the petitioner in fact
does not require any serious debate.

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2The issue is of making available dedicated
reserved seats for senior citizens in suburban
railway trains run by both the Central and Western
railways. The issue is of providing reserved seats
in the II Class compartments of suburban trains in
such a manner that the same are easily accessible to

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the senior citizens. Considering the mandate issued
by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment,
(AGING-II-SECTION), the Government of India by
letter dated 27th June 2014 and considering the
mandate of Article 41 of the Constitution of India,
the Railway Board has taken a decision to provide 14
seats inside the II Class General Compartment in
every train to the senior citizens. The decision of
the Railway Board was to provide 7 seats in first II
Class General Compartment and remaining 7 seats in
the last II Class General Compartment in every
train.

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2This Court has already noted in more than one
order that this decision of Railway Board remains
only on paper as it is impossible for the senior
citizens to enter inside the said II Class General
Compartments and to occupy the seats reserved for
them. In one of the orders, a judicial notice of
the fact is taken that even younger people find it
difficult to enter the II Class General Compartment
of the suburban local trains in Mumbai and its
suburbs during any hour of the day.

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3The Railways have also accepted that every day
at least 36,000 senior citizens above age of 65
years travel by suburban local trains in Mumbai.
The Railways have accepted that there is a need to
provide 14 reserved seats for the senior citizens.
Once the Railways accept the need of 14 reserved
seats for senior citizens in every suburban local
train, it is the duty and obligation of the Railways

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to provide 14 reserved seats for the senior citizens
in such a manner that the same can be easily
occupied by the senior citizens. It is the duty of
the Railways to ensure that the senior citizens
shall have an easy access to the said seats and that
the said seats are used only by the senior citizens.
The Railways have already implemented a policy
decision to provide separate sitting arrangements
for handicapped and pregnant women. It is obvious
that while providing facility of dedicated reserved
seats to the senior citizens, the Railways cannot
curtail the facility which is already extended to
physically handicapped and pregnant women.

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4A decision has been already been taken by the
Railway Board to provide 14 dedicated seats to the
senior citizens in every train but the said decision
is not of any benefit to them as the reserved seats
are inside II Class General Compartments, and
considering the enormous rush round the clock from
early morning to midnight, the senior citizens find
it impossible to go anywhere near the reserved
seats.

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5The learned Additional Solicitor General of
India has taken initiative and after having held
meetings with the officials of the Railways has come
out with certain suggestions. Only after the
learned ASG intervened that some suggestions have
been put forward by the Railways.

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6However, we must note here that after so many

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orders have been passed which reiterate the
obligation of the Railways to provide dedicated
reserved seats to the senior citizens, there appears
to be some hesitation on the part of the Railways to
come out with a workable solution. More than
sufficient time has been granted to the Railways to
ensure that the decision of the Railway Board to
provide 14 reserved seats for the senior citizens is
effectively implemented. It cannot be disputed that
as of today, the said decision of the Railway Board
is not being effectively implemented as practically
no senior citizen is in a position to avail of the
benefit of the reserved seats which are inside the
II Class General Compartment.

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7As stated earlier, the legal obligation of the
Railways to implement the decision of the Railway
Board cannot be disputed. Even otherwise, the
Railways are under a legal obligation to provide all
necessary assistance to the senior citizens. We,
therefore, propose to dispose of the petition by
granting reasonable time to the Railways to provide
dedicated reserved seats for the use of the senior
citizens in the suburban local trains. We propose
to grant time to the Railways till 15th April 2015 to
implement the decision.

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8 Accordingly, we pass the following order:

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(I)We direct both Central and Western Railways
to effectively implement the decision of the
Railway Board to provide 14 seats for the

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senior citizens travelling by II class in each
suburban local train;

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(II) We direct the Railways to ensure that dedicated 14 seats are available to the senior citizens in every suburban train. The seats shall be made available in such a manner that the senior citizens shall have an easy, free and unobstructed access to the reserved seats. The Railways shall ensure that the reserved seats are actually made available to the senior citizens. The reserved seats shall be provided in such a manner that the senior citizens are able to easily reach upto the seats and occupy the same easily;

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(III) We make it clear that the Railways shall maintain the facility already provided to the disabled and pregnant women and while providing the facility to the senior citizens, it shall not curtail the number of seats already reserved for the handicapped and pregnant women. It is also obvious that for providing facility to the senior citizens in terms of this order, dedicated facility extended to the women passengers shall not be curtailed. We grant time to both the Central and Western Railways to implement this decision till 15^th April 2015;

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(IV) Compliance affidavit shall be filed by both the Railways on or before 18^th April 2015. The petition shall be listed under the caption of Directions' on 20<sup>th</sup> April 2015 for considering the compliance;`

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(V) We record our appreciation for the services rendered by the learned Counsel Shri M.S.Karnik;

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(VI) The registry shall forward a copy of this order to Shri A.B.Thakkar at the address set out in the letter dated 27^th September 2009.

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(A.K.MENON,J.)

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(A.S.OKA,J.)

A. B. Thakkar v. Western Railway and Central Railway Divisional Manager, Indian Railway

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

A. B. Thakkar v. Western Railway and Central Railway Divisional Manager, Indian Railway

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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