The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to ensure that the Vande Bharat train stops at Tirur railway station in Kerala, saying the matter falls under the policy domain of the government.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices P.S. Narasimha and Manoj Misra refused to entertain the plea filed by P.T. Sheejish against an order of the Kerala High Court dismissing his PIL on the issue.
“You want Vande Bharat to stop at Tirur. We will not tell them (the government). This falls under the policy domain of the executive. Dismissed,” the Bench said.
It also refused to permit the plea to be filed as a representation to the Railways authorities, saying this would mean that “we saw some merits in your submissions”.
Tirur is a major railway station in Malappuram district of Kerala on the Shoranur-Mangalore section of Southern Railways.
The Vande Bharat Express is a short-distance semi-high-speed train service operated by Indian Railways.
Kerala’s first Vande Bharat Express was flagged off on April 25 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Thiruvananthapuram Railway Station and it connects the State capital with the northernmost Kerala district of Kasaragod.
The train was projected by many as an alternative to the LDF government’s ambitious plans for a semi-high-speed rail corridor SilverLine.
A division Bench of the Kerala High Court, on April 28, dismissed the plea, saying that there was no public interest espoused in the petition.
Providing stops for a train was a matter that had to be determined by the Railways and no person had a vested right to demand the same, it had said.
