Appeal filed before Supreme Court seeking halt for Vande Bharat train at Tirur railway station

An appeal was filed before the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking a halt for the newly launched Vande Bharat train at Tirur Railway station in Malappuram district [PT Sheejish v Union of India & Ors]..The plea has challenged a May 2 decision of the Kerala High Court rejecting the petition.A division bench consisting of Justices Bechu Kurian Thomas and C Jayachandran of the High Court had dismissed the plea stating that halting points of a train are determined by the Indian Railways and no one has a vested right to demand halt for a train at a particular station.“Moreover, like the petitioner, if every individual or public-spirited person in every district, starts clamouring or demanding a stop to be provided at a Railway Station of his/her choice, the purpose of setting up high-speed trains would itself be lost. Railway stops are not to be provided on demands based on personal or vested interests, especially for high-speed express trains like Vande Bharat train....we find no reason to entertain this writ petition and the same is dismissed in limine,“ the High Court had said..The appeal before the apex court said that as per the first schedule of train stop initially announced by the Indian Railways for Vande Bharat, Tirur railway station was allotted a stop on behalf of Malappuram district. Subsequently, the Indian Railways called back the stop allotted to Tirur railway station and instead another railway station, Shornur in Palakkad district was allotted the stop which is roughly 56 kilometer away from Tirur.The action of calling back the railway stop that was proposed to be allotted to Tirur railway station is significantly due to political reasons which is sheer injustice to the entire people of Malappuram district, as Malappuram is the most densely populated district and there are large number of citizens who are in dire need of the said train service, the petition said. The petitioner filed through advocates Sriram Parakkat and MS Vishnu Shankar further said that the petitioner does not have a vested interest and has only highlighted a larger public interest as the issue affects lakhs of citizens living in Malappuram district.