New Delhi: A fresh plea was filed in the Supreme Court seeking contempt proceedings against authorities over the alleged violation of the court's direction that there should be no complete prohibition on the movement of metro services and Indian Railways trains to Delhi on October 10 in view of a protest.
The petition named Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation chairperson D Thara as respondents. The plea referred to the top court's October 9 order, passed on a separate petition against the closure of 57 metro stations and the cancellation of trains to Delhi.
While hearing that matter, a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant had said the authorities could regulate movement but could not bring everything to a halt. The protest call was given by the Cockroach Janta Party and some student organisations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission.
The contempt plea was filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi through advocate Chand Qureshi. It stated that the brutal assault on the fundamental rights of citizens and sheer disregard for court orders amounted to a deliberate and intentional attempt by the Delhi Metro, Delhi Police, and the Union government that must be dealt with firmly.
The petition further claimed that despite the court's direction and the assurance recorded before it, the authorities consciously maintained a blanket shutdown across transit corridors, persisted with unwarranted train cancellations, and failed to issue or publicise transparent traffic and transit advisories.
According to the application, the petitioner was directly affected by the arbitrary closure of metro stations and station gates in the capital. The filing noted that he visited the GTB Nagar and Vishwavidyalaya metro stations at about 9:30 pm on Friday and found that entry gates were completely closed while exit gates were manually regulated.
The plea argued that the court's immediate intervention was necessary due to blatant violations of the October 9 order, alleging that authorities were knowingly creating lawless conditions in the national capital. The petition sought contempt proceedings against the respondents for wilful disobedience and requested an urgent ad-interim direction to revoke blanket prohibitory orders on metro and railway operations.
In its October 9 order, the Supreme Court had noted that notifications imposing a complete ban on essential public transportation appeared to be overreaching. The bench had clarified that while there should be no outright prohibition on the movement of trains and metro services, a prudent decision could be made to operate them in a regulated manner with wide public notice.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had previously indicated that restrictions could be regulated and periodically reviewed. Following the proceedings, Delhi Metro announced that 45 stations would remain closed from Friday night until Saturday evening for security reasons, prompting the fresh legal challenge over alleged non-compliance.