K’taka HC Dismisses PIL For Restoration Of Railways Ticket Concession For Senior Citizens

The Karnataka High Court recently dismissed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) seeking directions to the Union Government to reinstate the concession in fare for senior citizens in Railways.

A division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice M G S Kamal stated,

“Ultimately what should be the fare, whether the concession should be given to a particular class, all these are policy issues, how a court can enter that arena. Time and again the Supreme Court has said “please don’t do that, it is exclusively in the domain of the executive’. You can make a request to your elected representative.”

The petitioner, Vinod G Kulkarni, appearing in person, informed the bench that the concession in fare has been discontinued since 2020, causing significant hardship to senior citizens.

The bench inquired whether the petitioner had made any request on this matter to the Member of Parliament.

“There are legislative ways they can do something, not by this way. If they are representing the people, they have every right to raise the issue before the appropriate forum,” the bench remarked.

“A representative of people is having other tools, these tools can be effectively used to raise the issue of public importance, even protecting a class of citizens before appropriate forum. If these tools are properly used, certainly there can be at least a redressal through the forum. You can prompt your representatives to at least do this,” it added further.