The Supreme Court on Thursday granted six weeks to the Centre to place on record a draft policy providing railway travel concession to acid attack survivors, after Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak Dave informed the Court that the Railway Board had principally agreed to formulate such a policy.
The case concerns the demand for concessions and other travel-related facilities for acid attack survivors. ASG Dave told the Court that she had held a detailed discussion with the Chairman of the Railway Board, who was in agreement that a concession should be provided to acid attack survivors under the “patient category.” However, the modalities, including the manner in which the concession would be granted and its duration, were still being worked out.
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“I had a detailed discussion with the Chairman of the Railway Board and he was ad idem that there should be concession given to the acid attack victims in the patient category. Some time is needed to have the policy on record, how would it be given and what will be the duration…They are in the disabled category but we will give them concession under the patient category because they require it for the purpose of going to the doctor. We are still deliberating but under the disabled category we are not giving because we are not giving this concession to all the disabled persons. Then other disabled categories will come and we cannot then differentiate among the disabled persons.”
The petitioners, however, raised concerns regarding the limitations attached to concessions available under the patient category. Counsel pointed out that such concessions are presently linked to travel between a particular originating station and destination, which may not adequately address the needs of acid attack survivors requiring treatment across different cities.
The petitioners further argued that requiring survivors to obtain separate concession certificates from multiple hospitals would create an additional burden, particularly since medical treatment may be critical during the initial months following an acid attack. The counsel also sought consideration of emergency quotas for such survivors.
ASG Dave responded that these modalities could be addressed while framing the policy, reiterating that the Centre had reservations about extending the concession through the disability category because doing so could require differentiation between various categories of persons with disabilities.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana then asked the parties to place the position on record and proceeded to pass an order recording the Centre’s response. The order states:
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“Learned ASG informs us that a meeting was held and the Railway Board has principally agreed to formulate a policy. We grant six weeks to place the draft policy on record.”