Title - 'Season ticket holders can't travel in reserved coaches'

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, on Tuesday, upheld a single judge's order that season ticket holders were not entitled to travel in reserved coaches.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice K Vinod Chandran passed the order while dismissing a petition filed by Nazarudeen from Kozhikode, challenging the  Railways stipulation that first class season ticket holders were allowed to travel only in unreserved coaches. The bench observed that it agreed with an earlier judgment of the High Court that season ticket holders were not permitted in reserved compartments.

The earlier judgment had held that persons who had reserved tickets would have to be protected and their problems also will have to be addressed by the Railways. Railways submitted that under the Indian Railway Commercial Manual, Railways are bound to see that passengers who had reserved their berths are properly accommodated.

The Railways said that journeys undertaken by first-class season ticket holders in reserved coaches, including sleeper-class on Express trains, are not permitted. All season ticket holders, including those who posses valid first-class season tickets, are bound to travel by general coaches, in case a particular train does not have an unreserved coach, the Railways said.

First class season tickets are issued by the Thiruvananthapuram Railway Division for Parasuram and Venad Express trains, on which unreserved first class coaches are available