Patna High Court

Patna, June 30: Taking strong exception to the delay in completion of a railway project, Patna High Court today directed the railways to complete the track doubling work on the Patna-Gaya section within six months.

A division bench of Justice P.C. Verma and Justice A.K. Trivedi, made it clear that the Railway Board chairman would have to personally appear in the court to explain the delay if about 100km track doubling project is be completed within a stipulated time-frame.

The court was hearing a petition filed in 2006 by Arvind Kumar seeking direction to expeditiously complete the track doubling work on the Patna-Gaya section of Danapur division under East Central Railway for development of tourism in the state.

The court took strong exception to the non-completion of doubling work despite the ECR general manager giving an undertaking in 2007 that it would complete the work by March, 2010. The central government had set 2007 as the deadline for completion of the doubling project.

Arvind Kumar, the petitioner-in-person, submitted before the court that he had mailed an e-mail in August, 2009 to the ECR general manager that the project was barely 50 per cent complete and unless the railways acted with alacrity, the project would not be completed on time leading to time overrun and cost overrun. Kumar added that the railways’ inaction is in contravention to the central government’s policy on tourism in 2002, which laid emphasis to develop spiritual, religious places/centres and Gaya is certainly a tourist place where national and foreign tourists arrive at Gaya in huge numbers every year.

The railway counsel, however, pleaded that chairman should be exempted from personal appearance, instead the ECR general manager should be called in but the court did not buy his argument and rejected his plea. However, ECR chief public relations officer Neeraj Ambastha told The Telegraph that more than 80 per cent work of track doubling between Patna-Gaya section has been completed and it would be completed well in advance before the court’s time schedule of six months.

Dismissal upheld

A division bench of Justice P.C. Verma and Justice A.K. Trivedi today put its seal of approval on the state government’s decision to dismiss 12 sub-inspectors for indiscipline.