Bombay High Court tells railways to reserve 14 seats for senior citizens

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Railways (Central/Western) to reserve 14 seats for senior citizens in suburban trains by April 15.

A division bench of justices Abhay Oka and A K Menon said that it was the obligation of the railways to reserve seats for senior citizens, and directed the authorities to ensure that unrestricted access is provided to the citizens, while not diverting reserved seats for pregnant women and the disabled for this purpose.

The directions came during the hearing of a public interest litigation after the court took suo motu cognisance of a letter written by a senior citizen, A B Thakkar, in 2009. Thakkar had said that entering jampacked trains during peak hours was a nightmarish experience for senior citizens.

The court had on the last occasion termed it a human issue and directed the railways to reconsider its decision of not providing a separate compartment for senior citizens in suburban trains.

The Western Railway had earlier informed the court that it was not practical to have a separate compartment for senior citizens or reserve seats for this category. The affidavit filed by Western Railway divisional commercial manager Ashok Tiwari stated, "If a compartment is earmarked for senior citizens, the space for general second-class passengers would be curtailed, resulting in excessive crowding and accidents."

The railways reasoned that it cannot provide separate compartments because "despite introducing additional services and augmenting rakes from nine to 12, the crowd during peak hours has not come down, and is still approximately in the 400/per coach range." Besides, cancer patients and the disabled have 19 seats and additional free space for movement reserved in a compartment.