Delhi High Court - Orders
Hussain Mueen Farooq vs Delhi Metro Rail Corporation And Ors on 27 September, 2019
Author: C.Hari Shankar
Bench: Chief Justice, C.Hari Shankar
$~19
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of Decision: 27th September, 2019
+ W.P.(C) 1943/2019
HUSSAIN MUEEN FAROOQ ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. A.K. Singh with Mrs. B. Sudha &
Mr. Imran A., Advs.
versus
DELHI METRO RAIL CORPORATION AND ORS.
..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Akshay Makhija, CGSC with Mr. Rahul Arya, GP and Mr. Ankit Tyagi, Advs. for R-2.
Ms. Shobhana Takiar & Ms. Shweta Anand, Advs. for R-3.
CORAM:
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C.HARI SHANKAR D.N. PATEL, CHIEF JUSTICE (Oral)
1. This Public Interest Litigation has been preferred with the following prayers:
"a) Issue directions to DMRC to install Platform Screen Doors on all time Metro Stations maintained by DMRC in time bound manner.
b) Issue directions to the Union of India to appoint an independent Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety as is a statutory requirement under Section 7 of the Delhi Metro Railway (Operation And Maintenance) Act, 2002.W.P.(C) No.1943/2019 Page 1 of 7
c) Issue directions to DMRC to lay a separate Annual Report on activities during the financial year and the same shall be forwarded to the Central Government to be laid before the Parliament as has been statutorily required under Section 12 and Section 13 of Delhi Metro Railway (Operation And Maintenance) Act, 2002.
d) Issue any other order(s) or direction(s) which this Hon'ble court may deem fit and appropriate in the above given facts and circumstances of the case and may kindly be passed in order to meet the ends of justice;"
2. Having heard learned counsel for both the sides and looking to the facts and circumstances of the case, it appears that the respondent No.1 has filed a detailed counter affidavit and it has been stated that now Commissioner of Safety has already been appointed. Thus, Commissioner of Safety will now make several suggestions for the Metro Railway for the safety of the public at large which shall have to be carried out by the respondents.
3. So far as installation of the Platform Screen Door is concerned, it appears that out of 250 railway stations, at 69 stations such mechanism has been installed as stated in paragraph 3 of the counter affidavit filed by the respondent No.1.
4. For ready reference, the action initiated by the respondent No.1 has been mentioned in paragraph 3 which is reproduced hereunder:
"3. That the contents of Para 3 of the Petition as stated to the extent of the issues raised by the Petitioner are a matter of record. However, the contents of the rest of the Para under reply as stated are incorrect and are denied. The answering Respondent is currently operating a network of 343.785 kms. It may be noted that out of the total nos. of 250 stations, the answering Respondent has installed PSDs at 69 metro stations W.P.(C) No.1943/2019 Page 2 of 7 and all are operational presently (6 stations of yellow line, 38 stations of pink line and 25 stations of magenta line). It is submitted that installation of the PSDs at Pink and Magenta line is due to the technical requirement of completely automated train Operation system installed in trains operating on such lines. The Hon'ble Court may kindly consider the following facts, which are relevant for adjudication of the aforesaid Petition.-
i. The Metro Railway System has been constructed, operationalised and maintained by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation strictly as per Government of India technical specifications, necessary statutory standards and relevant Acts, Rules, Guidelines, Manuals published by the Government of India.
ii. To meet the safety standards for its operational and maintenance activities, before opening of lines for public, the respondent has statutory obligation to obtain certification from the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety and DMRC has obtained the said Certificates before opening of every line.
iii. Worldwide, PSDs are not Installed at all the Metro Stations and in some Metro's PSDs are installed at only few metro stations as per the system and operational requirement.
iv. The costs of installation of the PSDs at each of the metro station would be substantial, which, if directed to be incurred by the answering Respondent, would ultimately be passed on to the citizens through increase in fare or through governments budgetary support.
v. Provision of PSDs increases the costs of signaling substantially apart from increasing the maintenance requirements of the metro network W.P.(C) No.1943/2019 Page 3 of 7 and the same creates severe restrictions on Train Operations in case of failure or malfunction of the PSDs or the Metro Train.
vi. The decision to install PSDs at the Metro stations is based on the operational requirements, which needs detailed examination qua its technical requirements, costs involved, resources and time involvement, number of people using a particular station, convenience to the commuters etc. The answering Respondent's decision to install PSDs is thus, dependent on various factors. Therefore, any blanket order for installation of the PSDs at each station of the metro network, as prayed for by the Petitioner would actually be an interference to the technical and operational decision of the DMRC.
vii. Because the Commissioner for Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) during inspection of Noida - Greater Noida corridor on 11.12.2018 has also shown concern over the prohibitive costs, maintenance issue and consequence of failure of PSDs and has advised that such prohibitive equipments need not be deployed in the Indian Metro System.
A copy of the Report dated 17.12.2018 issued by the Commissioner for Metro Railway Safety, New Delhi is attached hereto and marked as Annexure R-1.
viii. Because the answering Respondent has already deployed various measures for passengers safety which inter-alia includes:-
a. Installation of PSDs at busy metro stations.W.P.(C) No.1943/2019 Page 4 of 7
b. Installation of preventive steel railings at various metro stations.
c. Marking of cautionary yellow line at all the metro stations. Passengers are also advised to keep away from yellow line on platform through regular announcements and random checks by staff.
d. Regular announcements at platforms and inside trains, regarding the safety procedure to be followed by passengers while boarding and de-boarding the metro trains.
e. Installation of CCTV at the Metro stations for monitoring purposes.
f. Even Train operators are being directed to be more attentive while approaching the platform to apply emergency brakes in emergency situations.
g. Installation of PSDs, when used to retrofit in older systems, have limitations/constraints as train doors and platform doors must be aligned, which in addition to operational difficulties, results in additional costs due to system upgrades.
h. Signages have been placed at the metro station advising the passengers to keep off the track intimating them that the event may endanger life and cause grievous injury.
i. Height of preventive steel railings has also been increased by DMRC.
j. The Security Controller/CISF and Station W.P.(C) No.1943/2019 Page 5 of 7 Controllers of each station have been asked to keep extra vigil on CCTV to identify restless or gloomy persons to prevent any such attempt."
5. It further appears from the facts of the case that the respondents have also pointed out in paragraph 6(iii) of 'Annexure R-1' of the counter affidavit filed by the respondent No.1 wherein detail has been mentioned about the Platform Screen Door mechanism. The said paragraph reads as under:-
"6(iii) Platform Screen Door (PSD) is not required for ATP/ATO operation. Furthermore PSD has not been planned / provided in major portion of DMRC network except line 7 and line 8. Provision of PSD increases the cost of signalling substantially apart from increasing maintenance requirement. Provision of PSD at Metro stations needs to be reviewed in light of severe restrictions it creates on Train operations in case of failure or malfunctions. In metro networks, non adherence to time table is the cause of maximum inconvenience to passenger and any such secondary delay as that of PSD failure (not primarily caused due to direct train operation related failure) is best avoidable as it may create unrest and commotion at stations and may lead to creating unsafe situation for passengers. So, such cost prohibitive equipment (PSD) need not be deployed in Indian Metro Systems. In future, requirement of PSD should be critically reviewed on the basis of overall life cycle cost, operations & maintenance issues and operational requirement of Indian Metros."
6. The aforesaid is one of the conditions for sanction for introduction of commercial services for 'opening of double line section including introduction of 1x25KV AC electric traction between Noida Sector-51 station to depot station of Noida - Greater Noida corridor for public carriage of passengers' dated 17th December, 2018 of the suggestion of the W.P.(C) No.1943/2019 Page 6 of 7 Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety report. The Commissioner of Metro Railway is a statutory body. The aforesaid report is of December, 2018. Thus, Platform Screen Door shall be installed by the respondents as per the guidelines / conditions / stipulations which will be given by the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety. If any such type of report is being given by the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety, the same shall be executed by the respondents. Otherwise, as per the existing report, such type of mechanism requires a fool-proof synchronisation with signal system, train control system and telecommunication system, etc.
7. Hence, the aforesaid aspect of the matter, namely, Platform Screen Door installation system is a highly technical aspect of the matter and we see no reason to give any direction for the installation of the same. It is the duty of the Commissioner of Motor Railway Safety to give such type of suggestions as and when such suggestions are being given by the Commissioner of Motor Railway Safety, the same shall be carried out by respondent No.1.
8. With these observations, the writ petition is hereby disposed of.
CHIEF JUSTICE C.HARI SHANKAR, J SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 kks W.P.(C) No.1943/2019 Page 7 of 7