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Railway Fare Authority: Bombay high court asks consumer body to approach ministry

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A division bench of justices Abhay Oka and AS Chandurkar of the Bombay high court, disposing of a public interest litigation filed by consumer body Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP), asked it to make a representation to the railways with regard to its prayer for setting up a Railway Fare Authority to review fare hikes.

The consumer body had challenged the exorbitant fare hike proposed by the railway ministry last month.

Apart from MGP, which has been fighting for protection of consumers rights, former journalist Ketan Tirodkar too had field a PIL against the hike.

On June 20, the central govt had announced that the fares for train commute would be hiked substantially to recover losses. The worst hit have been those commuting on suburban railways, where the prices were hiked by nearly 100%.

A press note issued by the railways on June 20 said it was calculating the new fares based on 30 single journeys as against the 15 journeys used to calculate the fare earlier.

The PIL was disposed of in view of the railway ministry subsequently increasing fares only marginally.

Uday Warunjikar, counsel for MGP, pointed out to the court that although the fare hike issue was infructuous, its prayer for setting up a Railway Fare Authority to review fare hikes was still valid. 

The court however asked the consumer body to make a representation to the ministry for setting up such an authority. In case the ministry does not give MGP a hearing, it has the liberty to file a fresh petition before the HC.

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