DR. P. NALI v. UNION OF INDIA & Ors.

With reference to· improvements in the rolling stock and · required gadgets, it has been stated that the Sixth Plan for the Rail ways has been termed as 'Rehabilitation Plan'.. Overaged gadgets • are intend~d to be. withdrawn subject to availability of resources and manufacturing capacity within the country. The Planning Commi ssion which is an expert body is responsible' for. fixing of the priori- It has again. been pleadeq that there are nearly 120000 bridges ties. on· the Railways out of which 195 are important bridges and nearly 9400 arc major bridges. It is said· that every bridge is annually inspected and continuos record is maintained in regard to every · bridge in ·the bridge. register. C>n an average 400 to 600 bridges are annually built. Speed restriction is imposed on old and weak bridges and at present there are 202 such bridges. Figures or" s.ix years between 1977 and 1983 of the ·outlay on bridges have been provided which indicate substantial sums. having been set apart for the rebuilding of bridges. It is said that the. total life of 80 years for steel work and JOO years for masonry part of the bridges stipul ated in the Railway Code is for the purpose of provision in the pepreciation Reserve Fund. The coda! life does not have any direct relevance with the condition of a bridge and there is no necessity of rebuildin!ji.a bridge when its c_odal life i~ 0ver. There has been no instance where the work of bridge rebmldmg has been postponed for Jack of funds and no accident has occurred owing to structural failure of any bridge or girders . . • P.N.T. THERA v_. UNION (Ranganath Misra, J.) 715 ' Colour Jig.ht signalling which is an improved device less depen dent on direct visibility and• where signal is pre-warned by a signal in the rear, i.s being provided on the trunk and main routes on a graduated scale. Antomatic warning system has been introduced in Gaya, Mughalsarai and Howrah-Bmdwan chord line sections on the Eastern Railway. Due to theft of aluminium track magnets the · system has been found not very satisfactory. Experiments are being made for evolving a design which would not be prone to theft. The petitioner has filed a rejoinder pointing out that the coun- · . teraffidavit clearly indicated a negative approach on the part of the· respondents to the entire matter. According .to the petitioner assis tance of500 crores of rupees was to come ·during the year ending March 31, 19 83 and fro!ll out of such funds, pressing improvements like manning the unmanned level crossings could be undertaken. Reliance has been placed on the. observations. of Sikri. Committee that accidents at unmanned level cro&Sirlf!S take a heavy toll of human Jives every year. The petitioner' has pleadedfor abolition of overtime employment of safety category staff. He has pointed out that though he asked for directions fot providing appropriate moni toring of speed of trains particularly at accident prone spots in the track, no reply has been given thereto in the counter-affidavit. The · strength of the GRP has been said to be totally inadequate keeping in view the size of the Railways and volume of the passenger traffic it handles. The petitioner has denied the assertion in the counter affidavit that no accident has taken place on account for defective bridges and has pointed out that the accident of June ii, 1981 on a river bridge in the Bihar State was attributable to this factor only. The petitioner has pleaded again for the introduction of the auto· matic warning .. system and has referred to a publication of the Dire ctorate of Safety; Railway Board, entitled, "A Review of Accidents on Indian Railways 1979-80", where the. introduction of automatic warning system has been suggested to be introduced to avoid acci dents. He has al90 pleaded for enhancing the· minimu~ compen sation in the event of loss Of'life of a passenger arising out of accidents to a sum of Rs.75,000 by appropriate amendment of~. 82A (2) of the Act. The petitioner has f<,>und fault ~th the counter affidavit for being silent in regard to his plea for the appointment of inspection of carriages, ' ~Railway Inspectors to make periodical engines, tracks, etc. A B c D E F G H I ) ... ~ . , .. , 1 716 S.UPREME COURT REPORTS [ 1984] i s.c.R. The lis before us is·not of the ordinary type where· there are two contending partie~. a cla_im is raised by one and denied by the other, issues are struck, evidence is led and· the findings. follow. Though the petitioner is commuter of tfaim run by the Indian •Railways, the writ petition is essentially in the nature of public . interest Iit.igation and the petitioner has attempted to voice the grie- vances of-the community availing the services of the Indian Railways. In view of the recent pronouncements of this Court no objection has · . been raised.in the cou.nter-affidavit and· we have not been called upon · to· adjudge the locus. standi of the petitioner to mainta'in an action like this. · Railways came to India in 1853 and the first track to be laid was of a small length connecting the then city of Bombay with a snburb.. Thr_ough the decade; that followed the expansion was us ually for considerations of tra1fo and ·commerce, troop movement and administrative convenience.· More of expansion came g;aduaUy . connecting almost the entire country tbrougJi.a well woven network. of. Railways and by the time the country became independent niost of the Railways bad been 'nationalised and Railways constituted the most important commercial activity of the Governm.ent of India. As early ·as 1850 :... and three years before t_he opening of the first Railway track, Lord Dalhous.ie, the then Governor General of India had said in his minutes : "I trust they (the East India Company and the' Government of India) will ever avoid.the error0Cvie1ving Railways as private undertakings and. will regard. them. ·as national works, over which the Governm.cnt may justly . exercise and is calied upon to cxe; cise stringent a.nd salu~ · tary control. This control should not" be an arbitrary right of inte.rference bt!t a regulated authority defined· and declared by law .which is not to · be needlessly or vexation.sly exacted but which, in my humble judgment, is necessary at once for the interests of the Siate and for the (Mimites ·or. Lord Dalhousie, protection of the public." July 4, i 85')). ·" · ~.· " This regard for the public ·interest during the pre-independence . · period was.often·Stlbjeci to the limitations .imposed by the. British Capital and Management and by British Commerdal and economic interests until \he Railways were nationalised lietween 1925 and 1944. A B c E • F G H .. . 1'.N.T •. THERA Y. UNION (Ranganath Misra, J.) . / .

#111. At any rate, by 1947 when the foreign ·domination .ended, the Rail ways had emerged as the main viable and .stable means of trnnsport and were providing 'the lifeline and link throughout the length and breadth of the country. By 1955 the total length of an Indian Railways.was 34705 miles and the capital sunk was m9re than 900 crore rupees. The .rise in the importance of the Railways _in ihe national sphere has been gradual. With the expansion of the Railways a high powered body known as the Railway Board has come. to be placed at the apex of control and with the new set up following independence. a . Minister remained incharge to administer the affairs of the Railways through the Board. As early as 1924 by a resolution known as the C9nvention Resolution of the Legislative Assembly . the Railway budget had been· separaied from the general budget and this historical " p_ractice has"b'een continued till to.day. . Today the· Railways provi&'· the. most effective means· · of transport, both for passengers also for the goo.ds traffic: The Railways have a great'impact in· holding this great country together and in promoting and running its· economy. · Their contribution to the com-. munity is manifold :_ some seen and others not apparently visible. Briefly stated, it is a big force, the largest employer in the country and a monopoly transport agency .. ·Before we cometo deal with the spei::ific aspects .raise.d. in th~ writ petiti0n .and countered. by the rcspondenls certain general observations need be made. The Indian ·Railways are 'a socialise.d public utility nndertakin'g, There is .at present a general agreement among writers of ·repnte that .the price· policy· of such a 'Public Corporation should neither make ·a loss nor a profit ·after meeting all . . capita! charges and this is. expressed by co,,ering all costs or breaking · even; and secondly, the priee it charges fqr the services sbould . corres- . pond lo .relative costs. · Keeping the history of the growth of the · · Railways and their· functioning' in· view, the commendable view ·to · accept may be that the :rates and fares should cover the total cost of service which would be equatto operational expenses, inter~st on investn; ient, depreciaticm and payment of public obligations, if any. We need not, howeve.r, e.xpress any opinion about it, . After independence, keeping to the ideologies .that had been nurtured during .the period of struggle ·an attempt has been made A B c D F G H '<' I - 718 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1984) 1 s.c.R. Jor the simplification of the classes in the .Railways. Instead of first class, second class, inter class and.third class, two classes only have been maintained." namely, the first class and the second class besides the air-condi.tioned class. In India fication is higher and lower; sleeping or sitting and the like. 90% of the earnings in.respect of .,assenger traffic come froni the lower class commuters. In developed countries usually the cla.ssi~ ..• \ . '>, II! . • } ,._ ' . • I Also after independence expansion projects · have undertaken and many areas which have hitherto remained unlink.ed and unconnected have been joined up as part of the national lifeline .. ·Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India had once said : "Our final aim can o.nly be a classless society with equal economic justice and opportunity to all, a society organised on a planned bdsis for the raising of mankind to higher· material and cultural level ..... Every thing that comes in the way will have to be removed; gently if possible, forcibly, if necessary. And there seems to be little doubt that coercion will often be necessary." This approach on principle does. not appear .to have been abandoned. It is proper that this is worked out also in the Railways and, as quickly as possible, classification conforming to this is intro· duced. It is mariifest that the Indian Constitution has definitely rejected the authoritarian "rorm of Government and directed the State to bring about an egalitarian social order through the rule. of law. In keeping with this mandate several guiding policies are being·indi cated hut implementation is not·being made. What Tolstoy remarked can relevantly be quoted as apt : .... I "The abolition of slavery has gone on for a very long time. Rome abolished slavery; America abolished it and we did, but only the words were abolished," not the thing." The implementing.machinery has become non-funcfional. This is so not only in our country .. Wi.lfred .Jenks in his address m April 1972 to the International Law . Organisation had summed up the position thus ; A c D E F G H P.N.T. THERA v. UNION (Ranganath Misra, J.) 719 "Throughout the world . there is an acute crisis of confidence in integrity and. fairness. This crisis of confi dence lies at the heart of political instability,. economic religious industrial c)isturbance, racial and disorder, conflict, cultural anarchy, youth unrest and continuous international tension. Disruptive in all these fields, i~ p~ralyses actibn to remove its causes." Burger, C.J. of the United States .has said : "We are approaching 1he status of an imperfect society where capability of maintaining elementary security in the streets, in the scho!Jls and for the homes of our people is in doubt. At every stage of the criminal process; the system cries out for change." ' What has been exiracted above appropriately summarises the current situation all .the world over. No purpose is served by placing the blame at the doors o~ "the Government of the day. We must have realism and candour: Independ, nce has been secured.at great cost and sacrifice. It is our qbligation.to maintain it and create an environment in which its fruits can be ·harvested and shared. Freedom brings responsibility. Th.ere can be no rights without responsibilitie•. · In our country, unfortunately individual rights seem to have received disproportionate emphasis without proper stress on In a welfare c·orresponding social obligations ·and responsibilities. State like ours the citizen is for ever encountering public officials at levels, regulators and dispensers of social· services and various inariagers of State operated enterprises. It is of the utmost impor tance that the encounters are as just and as free from arbitrariness as are the familiar e.ncounters of the rights. • Edmund Burke spoke thus : "All persons possessing a portion of power ought to be strongly and awfully impressed with an idea thatthey act in trust, and they ate to account for their conduct,. in that trust to the one great master, author and founder of society." · · A .. B c D E F H • 't I -... .. A 720 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1984) 1 S.C.R.; • Equally apt are the observations. of Lord Denning in .hiB address to the National Conference of the Law Society in J 980 : I "When you look upon these scientific achievements, . then look back for·a moment..on our world today, what · .. do you see, Crime, increasing every where; sins, disgrace . fut sins, corroding corruption, increasing· •:verywhere. 'When we see this, surely. we recall the words of 2000 years ago.....:what doth it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soµ!." · · c What is, therefore, of paramount importance is that every ·citizen must get involved in tb,e determined march to resurrect tho: society and subor<;linate liis will and passion to the primordial. necessity of o~der in social life. · Abraham Li11colo once told his Congress : D . "This country; with its· insfit'!tioos, ·belongs to the .people who inhabit it." E r F G H . Such also is the position in ou~ country. •Everyone in the country must realise this and be told the great truth said by Lord Wright: "-The safeguard of British liberty is in the ,good sense of the pe~ple." . Liver sidge v. Anderson (1942) A.C. 206 • It is useful to conclude· our general .observations "by quoting . from Robert Ingersoll : · .. A Government founded. OD anything except liberty .Air the wr.ccks on either side and justice cannot stand. of the stream of time, all' the wrecks of the great cities and all the nations that have passed away-all are a warning that no nation founded upon injustice can stand .. From the sand.enshrouded Egypt, from the marble wilder ness.of Athens, and from every fall~n crumbling stone-.,f · the once mightly Rome, comes .a wail-as it were-the ciy ·that no. nation founded ·on injustice ·can permanently. • ~taod.'' ... • _. • .~ P.N.T. THEl\A v. UNl~N (Ranganath Misra, ·n ·721 Having thus . cleared tht: way by indicating the approach; ·ordinarily the powers of the Court to deal with a matter' such as this which prima facie appears to be wholly ·within the domain of the Executive, should have been examined. Lord Simond in Shaw v. Director, Public Prosecution,(') has-observed.:· ''I entertain no doubt there remains in the Courts of Law a residual power to enforce the supreme and funda· mental purpose of the law, .to conserve not only the safety apd order, but also the moral .welfare of.the State and that it is their duty to guard against attacks. which may be more insiduous because they are novel and unprepared for." • · Mathew, J. in Murlidhaf Aggarwal v. State of U.P., (') indicated : · "·Public policy. does not remain static in any given It may vary froin gen~ratioti to generation community. and even in the same generation. Public policy would be almost useles~ if it were to remain in fixed moulds for all time. . ' If it is variable, iflt depends on the welfare. of the community at any given tirrie, how are the 'courts to · ascertain it ! The Judges are more to be trusted as inter· "preters of the law than as expounders of: public policy. However,.there is no alternative un(!er our system but to vest this power with Judges. T_he difficulty of discovering what public policy is at any given moment certainly does not absolve the "Judges from the duty qf doing so. In conducting an. enquiry, as already stated, Judges· are not hidebound oy precedent. The Judges must look beyond the narrow field of past precedents, though this. stiU leaves open the question in which direction they· must cast their gaze." The learned Judge then quoted with approval the ofCardoz~ (The Nature. of Judicial Process): famous statement (I) [1961] 2 All E,R. 447. (2) [1974] 2 S.C.C. 472 at 482. A B "'' "' ' D E F ·G H ,A B c D E F G H 722 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1984) I s.c.R, '.'No doubt there is no assdrance that Judges will · interp.ret the mores of their .day in ore wisely and truly than other men, But this is beside the point The point , is rather that 'this power must be lodged somewhere and . under our Constitution and laws, it has been lodged in the Judges and 'if they have to fulfil· their function as Judges, it would hardly be lodged el.sewhere," " The petitioner has grounded his petition on Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution. Article 19, inter alia, guarantees freedom of movement throughout' th.e territory of India and to practice any, profession, to carry on any occupation, trade or business, and Article 21 guarantees that•no person shall be deprived of hi·s life and personal liberty exccj;t according to procedure prescribed by law. The petitioner has maintained that· he, may every citizen of this ·country for the matter of that, is entitled to demand that the-• State· shall provide adequate facilities and create and maintain an environ· ment in which the right to move freely and carry on any business or profession would both be practicable and feasible. Since the State maintains the Railways which provide the link and make working out of both these rights possible, it is. contended, such facilities should be in· good shape, adequate, prompt, efficient, economic' arid ~ithin the reach of the common m~n, free from danger or apprehension of life. Similarly, this service must operate efficiently for transport of.goods to facilitate business and practice of profession and trade by citizens, There is hardly any .scope.to doubt thatthe guarantees provided in Part Ill of the Constitution are fundamental and.it is the par:-.mount obligation of the State to ensure availability of situa tions, circumstances and environments in which every citizen can effectively exercise and enjoy those rights, · The ·right to lif~ ·has recently been held ·by this Court to. cannote not merely animal existence but to have a much · wider meaning-to include the finer graces of huinan civilization .. If these rights of the citizens- are to · be ensured, it is undoubtedly the obligation of the Union ofindia and its .instrumentalities to improve the established means af commu nication in this country: · _Here again, however, we need not express any opinion as we do not. propose to· giv~ any dire, tions to. the opposite parties. No-dispute regarding maintainability having been raised, that question also did not arise for consideration. We ha-.:e said earlier that the Railways are a public utility service run on monopoly basis. Since it is a public utility, there is -...\ ( l ; P.N.T. TliERA v. UNION (Ranganath MiSra, J.) '723 , no justification to run it merely as.a commercial venture With a.view. to making profits. We do not know-at any rate it does not fall for consideration here-if a monopoly based public utility should ever be a commercial venture geared t~. support the general revenue of the State but there is not an iota of hesitation in us to say that the common man'.s mode of transport- closely connected with the free play of this fundametal right should not be. We agree that the. Union Gove; nment should be free to collect the entire operational · cost which would include the interest on the capital outlay out of the national exchequer. Small marginal porfits cannot be ruled out. The mas'sive· operation· will require a margin of adjustment and, therefore,. marginal profits should be admissible. It k of paramount .importance that the' services should be prompt, efficient and dignified. The quality of the service s·hould improve: Travel comforts should be ensured. Facilities in running trains .should be ensured. Quality of .accomodation and ava; lability thereof should. be ensured. The administration shouid remain always alive to the' position that every bona fide passenger is a gu~st . of the service. Ticketless travelling has to be totally wiped out. -We· are of the view that it is this class of passengers which is a menace to the system. Without ·any payment these Jaw breakers disturb the administratfon and genuine passengers. Stringent Jaws should be made and strictly enforced to free the Railways from this. deep roofed evil. · Security both to the travelling public as afso to the non-travelling citizens musf be provided and tl; iis means that accidents have to be avoided, attack on the persons of the passengers and prying on their property has to stop. S-cie.ntific improvements· made in .other countries and suitable to the system in our country must be briskly adopted. The obligations cast by the Railways Act and the ·Rules under it must be complied with. It is relevant to point out here that in the counter·affidavit . the respondents have denied some of the assertions of the petitioner' • yet 'no dispute has been generally raised to the stand taken in )he writ petition. We are alive to the· fact that Government have limitations, both of resources and capacity, yet we hope that the Government and the Administra-· tion .would rise to the necessity of the occasion and take it as a challenge to improve this great public utility in an effective way and with an adequate sense of urgency. If necessary, it shall set up a high powered body to quickly ,handle the many faced problems standing in the way. Giving directions in a matter. like this where availability of resources has a materia( bearing, policy regarding A B c D E F G H. A B c D F 724 . SUPREME' COURT REPORTS . [1984] t s.c.R. • · priorities is involved, expertise is very much in issue, is not prudent and we do not, therefore, propose tb issue directitms. We, however, do hope and believe that early steps shall be'taken to implement in the improvements referred to in the counter a phased .manner affidavit and in our decision . . · We. think it proper to conclude our decision by remembering the · famous saying •of· Henry · Peter Broughan with cettain adaptations : "It was· the boast of Augustus that he found Rome of bricks and left it of marble. But how noble will be the boast of the citizens of free India of today when .they shall have it to say that they found iaw dear and left it cheaper; found it a sealed book and left it a living letter; found it, the patrimony of the rich and left it the ii:J.heri• . lance of the poor; found it the two edged sword of craft and oppression and left it the staff of honesty . and the shieid of innocence." • It)s only .i'n a country of that order that the common man will 'have . . his voice heard. The dream can become a reality if every citiz~n •becomes aware of his duty and before asking for enforcement of his right, volunteers to perform his obligation .. , . And before we part, we must record our' appreciation of the performance of the petitioner. He has taken great pains to 'high light bis stand-collected a lot of relevant material and argued .. his . case .quite well•a doctor by profes.sion though.· . As this was a public interest litigation, we direct thai he shall be. entitled to ,consolidated cost of Rs. 5,000 recoverable from the Railway Ministry .of the Union Government unless paid within two months hence. ' \ ,) :-> ' G S.R.