Notice issued to Ministry of Railways, reply sought in four weeks
Nagpur: A petition has been filed in the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court challenging the validity of ‘Tatkal’ and the ‘Premium Tatkal’ quota scheme of reservation in the Indian Railways. A Division Bench comprising Justice Atul Chandurkar and Justice Urmila Joshi Phalke on Friday issued a notice to the Ministry of Railways through its Delhi-based Chairman, seeking a reply in four weeks.
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Saturday 28 Dec. 2024
The petition has been filed by Ajay Maheshwari. He contended that the railways charge exorbitant fare under the pretext of both these schemes from the passengers. The petitioner Ajay Maheshwari, who likes to call himself as an alert citizen, has not hired any lawyer for pleading the case, and himself put forth the arguments before the court.
Maheshwari pointed out that the passengers, who bought this ticket much ahead of the journey date, cannot be said to be on a ‘short notice’ as they had planned their journey much ahead of the train departure date. “The artificial scarcity of berths is created by the railways, due to blocking of 30% seats for Tatkal seats. Even passengers booking seats much in advance get wait-listed tickets. Later, the same passengers are sold the Tatkal quota seats at a much higher fare. They are left with no option but to buy the last day tickets at an extortionate fare,” he said.
Quoting his own example of purchasing tickets for Nagpur to Wardha, he said the sleeper class fare was Rs 205, but in Tatkal it was Rs 405 and in premium Tatkal, it was Rs 980. “Such a huge differential fares being charged by the railways is in violation of legal provision. The objective of the Tatkal scheme was to allot the seats to only those passengers who had to travel on a very short notice on payment of a premium fare. The Railways, however, is selling these tickets to all passengers,” he contended.
The petitioner argued that the Railways Act, 1989 does not define any definition on who is a “short notice” passenger with a shorter advance reservation period. “The Act only mentions, at Section 2(o) of its ‘Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Ticket and Refund of Fare) Rules, 2015’, about ‘Tatkal ticket’ which means a ticket with shorter advance reservation period issued to meet the requirements of those passengers who have to travel at short notice,” he said.
The petitioner said in the petition that while, on the one hand, these tickets are sold at high prices, on the other hand, the rules are not followed in awarding tickets under the plan. In this way the rights of ordinary people are being violated. If any person in the country has to go somewhere urgently for urgent work, then the Tatkal ticket scheme was brought in to facilitate this. In case of need to travel with immediate effect, the public should not have to pay more for being caught in the clutches of touts unnecessarily, the purpose behind this Tatkal ticket was revealed many times by the Ministry of Railways and the Department of Railways.
30% of tickets already blocked
The petitioner said that actually the Indian Railways provides Tatkal and Premium Tatkal tickets not only to short notice travellers, but also to general travellers. The Railways already block 30 percent of tickets under this Tatkal scheme. He said that a passenger buys a ticket long in advance. That it cannot be treated as a short-term trip. Many times that passenger receives a standby ticket. Later, these passengers receive seats in the name of Tatkal. Railways is openly selling the blocked tickets on behalf of Tatkal and Premium Tatkal tickets at higher prices. In this way, the game continues in the name of planning.
The petitioner believes that there are many types of quotas available with the Railways. Each quota has prescribed eligibility to purchase tickets under that quota. In the options such as Defense Fee, Sports Fee or Disabled Fee, the tickets are delivered based on a certificate only to the person who avails himself of the respective regime. For which the Railways do not charge an additional fee, but no criteria have been set in the Tatkal and Premium Tatkal scheme. Tickets for these schemes are also sold to those who do not actually fall under the definition of a short notice passenger. In this way the fundamental rights of people are being violated, Maheshwari stated.
