Railway Concession PIL filed before Delhi High Court

[Guest guest]

PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION ON RAILWAY CONCESSION FILED BEFORE THE DELHI HIGH

COURT.

April 25, 2007

The Delhi Network of Positive People and the Love Life Society, represented by

the Human Rights Law Network, filed a Public Interest Litigation against the

Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on the issue

of Travel Concessions to the HIV affected persons. The PIL was the final step in

a series of attempts (including a letter written to the Hon'ble Minister of

Railways requesting concession on 08.02.2007 to which the Ministry replied by

letter dated 27.02.2007 that they were unable to provide this concession as the

Railways have been incurring revenue losses on account of concessions granted)

made on behalf of the Positive people demanding railway concession as their

fundamental right under Article 14 and Article 21.

The Railways concession scheme has consistently excluded HIV positive persons

from travel concession benefits. HIV Positive persons also suffer from a

" chronic and incurable " disease like tuberculosis, thalasemmia, leprosy, and

cancer but their situation is aggravated by the fact that they are required to

travel every month to the hospitals for life saving ARV Treatment and testing.

The Indian Railways provide a discount of 75% on the cost of tickets purchased

by individuals suffering from “chronic and incurable” diseases (as it appears in

the Railway Concession Rule Book). This concession has been extended to people

suffering from tuberculosis, thalassemia, leprosy and cancer amongst others.

Concessions are also provided to those with disabilities and other diseases. In

addition, the Indian Railways provides concessions to groups such as unemployed

youth, farmers, and widows of defense personnel. And recently this year, the

Railway Budget 2007-2008 announced 50% concession to candidates appearing for

UPSC and other government examinations.

The matter was heard by the Hon'ble Chief Justice Mr. M.K. Sharma and Hon'ble

Justice Mr. Sanjeev Khanna today and the Court was quick to hold the Union

Ministry to account for not having granted this concession already. The Court

appreciated the fact that the demand for concession by the Positive people was

not without merit and directed the Union Ministry and the Ministry of Railways

to file their reply in two weeks time as to why they have not granted this

concession to the Positive people.

HRLN

DNP+

Love Life Society

Thank you and Regards

Komal

HRLN - HIV/AIDS and the Law Initiative

576 Masjid Road, Jangpura

New Delhi 110014

www.hrln.org

e-mail: hri.delhi@...