The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation petition which sought a direction to Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) to fix minimum ticket fare at ₹ 5 per person and follow the same pricing pattern as adopted by the Southern Railway for the suburban electric trains.
A Division Bench of Justices K.K. Sasidharan and R. Subramanian refused to entertain the case at the admission stage itself on the ground that it was not for the court to decide the correctness of the fare structure evolved by the CMRL by taking into many factors including the costs involved in creating the facility.
R. Viswanathan alias ‘MGR’ Viswanathan, 61, of Gopalapuram here, had filed the PIL petition. Apart from fare reduction, he had also sought a direction to the Centre to take over the Metro Rail services in the city through the Indian Railways and operate it with the assistance of the Southern Railway.
Rejecting all his pleas, the Bench said, “the petitioner had not shown that there was infringement of any of his fundamental rights. Merely because, CMRL has been adopting a fare structure which is high compared to fare collected by suburban trains or other countries, it cannot be said that a situation has come to interfere in the matter by the High Court.”
Authoring the judgement for the Division Bench, Mr. Justice Sasidharan pointed out that the petitioner had not come up with data with respect to the money spent for establishing the metro rail facilities including the cost of land acquisition, construction of the railway stations and purchase of the trains.
“Certain matters like this, by their very nature, should be left to the authorities concerned instead of courts themselves seeking to substitute their own views and perceptions. In matters of timings, tariff fixation and other operational functions, railways and CMRL must be given a free hand.
“The train fares are fixed taking into account several factors including operational cost. It is not possible for the court to evolve a price mechanism by sitting in the arm chair of railway officials and acting as if it is a cost auditor. In matters relating to the metro rail, its operational activities and fixation of fare, the scope of court interference is very limited.
“The decision must be left with the Government or the appropriate authorities as they alone can decide the fare structure to be adopted after considering all the relevant aspects from different angles. This is more so in the case of commercial ventures and related transactions. The court must show judicial restraint in matters like this.”
