The Hindu : Bifurcation of railway zones: Supreme Court directive to Govt.

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Saturday, Sep 14, 2002

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Bifurcation of railway zones: Supreme Court directive to Govt.

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 13. The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to produce on October 4 the relevant material on the basis of which the Union Cabinet decided to bifurcate and create seven new railway zones, including the East Central Railway.

A Bench, comprising Justice G.B. Pattanaik and Justice Ruma Pal, issued the direction during the preliminary hearing of two special leave petitions (SLPs) against judgments of the Calcutta and Delhi High Courts which declined to entertain a plea against bifurcation of the railway zones.

The Attorney-General, Soli Sorabjee, submitted that it was the well-considered decision of the Government to create the East Central Railway out of the existing Eastern and North Eastern Railway zones with its headquarters at Hajipur aimed at improving the administration of the railways with effect from October 1.

The Bench observed that the "scope of judicial review of a matter relating to the policy decision of the Government was very limited.''

Further the executive Government could take such decisions for improving the administrative efficiency in exercise of powers under Sec. 3 of the Indian Railways Act.

However, it wanted to satisfy itself whether there was sufficient material before the Cabinet to take the decision, the Bench said and asked the Attorney-General to file an affidavit in this regard.

The SLPs were filed by the Federation of Railway Officers Association and Biswajit Deb against the Delhi High Court and Calcutta High Court judgments rejecting their plea challenging the notification issued on June 14 for splitting the zones.

Senior counsel, Shanti Bhushan, appearing for the FROA, contended that the decision to create seven more railway zones was "politically motivated,'' ignoring the reports of various expert committees which were against splitting of the existing zones.

The decision was also not

aimed at improving the administrative efficiency of the railways, he said.

Counsel further said the railway administration had "gone to dogs'' and the recent derailment of the Rajdhani Express in Bihar, resulting in a number of casualties, was the latest example.

When the court asked the Attorney-General to furnish details regarding the creation of new zones, counsel for another petitioner, requested the court that a copy of the affidavit of the Centre be given to them. However, the Bench rejected this plea.

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