The High Court of Karnataka has refused to interfere with the tweaking made to the Indian Railway’s catering services policy to improve hygiene and accountability in maintenance of quality of food supplied to passengers and the kitchens from where food is sourced.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while dismissing the petition filed by the South Western Railway Catering Contractors’ Association, Bengaluru. The petitioner-association had questioned the legality of changes made in the Catering Policy of 2017 by amending the policy in November 2023.
New feature introduced
One of the many new features, introduced to build confidence on food quality in the eyes of passengers by amending the policy, was to provide CCTV access through a QR code printed on the food packets enabling live streaming of kitchen, from where food sourced by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC).
However, the petitioners, besides claiming that changed policy was not in public interest, had also contended that policy was amended without the approval of the Cabinet unlike the 2017 policy, which was introduced through the Union budget after “approval” by the Cabinet.
“If hygiene, quality of food, and accountability are to be brought in, it cannot be said that such policy is illegal and contrary to public interest. Catering contractors are seeking to project their interest over and above what is aforesaid, which is in the realm of public interest,” the court observed.
No contracts disturbed
Meanwhile, the court rejected petitioner’s contentions by noticing that no subsisting catering contracts have been disturbed on account of implementation of the new policy. The court also said that it cannot sit in the armchair of experts to scrutinise or monitor commercial policy decisions of the Railways.
Appearing for the Railways, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta had pointed out that there were certain gaps in the policy which had created a big problem in maintaining food quality as distributors used to blame kitchens from where food was sourced. The tweaked policy, the SGI had said, would fix accountability on preparation and supply of food, and the moment QR code is scanned the kitchen from where the food comes can be seen in real time.
