New Delhi : The Supreme Court has sought an explanation from the Indian Railways on why accident insurance cover is being provided only to passengers purchasing tickets. A bench comprising Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice K Vinod Chandran asked for the explanation of the issue after going through a report filed by the Indian Railways on safety issues concerning the railway system and passengers.
The bench, which has been dealing with the safety of the railway system and passengers after concerns were raised in a railway accident compensation case. The learned Amicus has pointed out that an insurance cover is provided to passengers purchasing tickets online to cover accidents, which is not available to those who purchase tickets offline. The top court, after going through the report filed by the Railways, also directed the Indian Railways to focus on the safety of the tracks and the railway crossings.
The ASG submitted that the issues highlighted in the report may not be taken as the priorities of the Railways and are only for the purposes of highlighting the aspects on which the Railways have taken a conscious decision as far as safety issues concerning the system and passengers are concerned. As an indication has been given with regard to what the Railways proposes to undertake, no definite timelines have been provided.
With regard to the remaining issues on safety concerning the railway system and passengers, the top court asked the Railways to continue carrying out its overall plan for the improvement of the system in its entirety. For the present, we require the Railways to respond and file further affidavit/report with regard to the two issues, as indicated above, and also respond with regard to the insurance issue, the division bench said.
