M A I N   N E W S

Railways challenge Godhra order
Our Correspondent

Gandhinagar, March 9
A division bench of the Gujarat High Court on Thursday reserved its order for next week on a petition challenging the single judge order on the U. G. Bannerjee Commission report relating to the Sabarmati Express train carnage probe.

The division bench of Mr Justice M. S. Shah and Mr Justice S. D. Dave today heard arguments on the petition filed by the Centre through the Union Railway Ministry for vacating the stay on the Commission report by Justice M. R. Shah in his order on Tuesday. The single judge had stayed the implementation as well as the publication of the report until the disposal of the petition challenging it.

While the counsel for the petitioner Neelkanth Bhatia who had challenged the appointment of the Bannerjee commission on the ground that the Nanavati - Shah Commission was already seized with the matter, was joined by the state government pleader in opposing the special appeal on the ground that it would prejudice the hearing in the petition slated to commence from April 3.

The counsel for the railways, Mr Nirupam Nanavati, however argued that the railways was the only competent authority to probe the matter as the incident had taken place in the area under its jurisdiction. Moreover it was necessary to go into the details to ensure remedial steps to prevent such incidents from taking place in future.

The Railway Ministry has challenged the order of the single judge on the ground that the scope of the Bannerjee panel was not limited to Gujarat alone but covered other states including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. “If the scope of the inquiry covered many states, the centre was well within it’s right to appoint another commission even if a state appointed panel is already seized with the matter,” the counsel for the railways contended. The Sabarmati Express whose bogie was torched near Godhra railway station had commenced its journey from Bihar and traversed through UP and MP before entering Gujarat.

The division bench is expected to give its order next week though no specific date has been set so far.