SC dismisses plea seeking stop for Vande Bharat train in Tirur railway station in Kerala

The petitioner claimed that it would be challenging for residents of the Malappuram District to traverse the 56 kilometres between Tirur and the Shoranur Railway Station.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (July 17) rejected a lawyer's appeal against Kerala High Court's dismissal to direct Southern Railways to allow a halt for the "Vande Bharat Train Service" at Tirur Railway Station in the Malappuram District. The bench, which was made up of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice Manoj Misra, immediately stated its reluctance to consider the appeal.

The Supreme Court rejected the plea, noting that it was a question of policy.

There was no public interest espoused in the writ petition, the provision of stops for trains was a matter that had to be decided by the Railways, and no one had a vested right to demand the same, the Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, comprised of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas and Justice C. Jayachandran, had noted in dismissing the plea.

The petitioner used data from the 2011 Census Report on the populations of Tirur District in Malappuram and Shornur in the Palakkad district to support the claim that Tirur is a significant district with a dense population and that denying the railway stop there would amount to complete ignorance and a barrier to effective transportation facilities for the entire population of the district.