railway station stampede: Delhi HC dismisses plea for intervention
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain an intervention application filed by individuals who were unable to board their trains and sought ticket refunds on the day of the stampede at the New Delhi railway station.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela was hearing the application seeking to intervene in a public interest litigation (PIL) currently pending before the court.
The Chief Justice said the intervenors should pursue legal remedies under private law rather than in the PIL. “You have a personal cause of action. This PIL is confined to the enforcement of provisions of the Railways Act. Why should you be impleaded?” he remarked.
Justice Gedela remarked that allowing such interventions in a PIL would set an undesirable precedent.
“It will open floodgates. We will not be doing justice to your case. The issue here is something else. You cannot come in the PIL. Your case is entirely on the incident. In the PIL, the incident is not the primary focus,” he stated.
Following these observations, the court permitted the intervenors to withdraw their application, granting them the liberty to seek appropriate legal recourse elsewhere.
The PIL in question has been filed by Arth Vidhi, a collective of lawyers, entrepreneurs and other professionals, in the wake of the stampede at the railway station on February 15, which resulted in the deaths of at least 18 people.
The overcrowding at the station was reportedly due to a surge of pilgrims heading to Uttar Pradesh for the Maha Kumbh.
The petition highlights instances of “mismanagement, gross negligence and complete failure of administration” that allegedly contributed to the chaos leading to the stampede.
The court had previously sought responses from the Union Government, Indian Railways and the Railway Board regarding the matter. The case is scheduled for its next hearing on March 26.
