Anubhuti was conceptualised as a modern coach, fitted with ergonomically designed cushioned seats and LCD screens. Anubhuti was conceptualised as a modern coach, fitted with ergonomically designed cushioned seats and LCD screens.

Senior Railway officials are scrambling for cover after being served a notice by a magistrate wanting to know why they failed to confirm the waitlisted ticket of a “relative” of the Chhattisgarh High Court Chief Justice under the VIP quota.

Special Railway Magistrate Vikram Pratap Chandra also asked officials to provide the names and addresses of all passengers whose tickets on the Bilaspur-Patna Express were confirmed through the VIP quota on April 11, the day the “relative” of Justice Navin Sinha travelled. Chandra is based in Bilaspur, the seat of the High Court.

The notice was issued on April 16 to Ravish Kumar Singh, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, South East Central Railway (SECR), who told The Indian Express that he had responded to Chandra’s notice, and that there was no breach of protocol involved as the “relative” was not “travelling with the Chief Justice”.

According to officials, the waitlisted ticket-holder was part of a group of Justice Sinha’s “relatives” who had visited Bilaspur to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Chief Justice, previously with Patna High Court, on April 9.

The notice issued by Chandra noted: “This court had sent you a VIP/Emergency quota form for Vinod Kumar, Ajit Jha + 1, the relatives of the Chief Justice of Bilaspur High Court, for reservation in Patna Express 22843. In furtherance of the matter… I personally telephoned ACM (Assistant Commercial Manager) Rakesh Kumar Singh. Still, one of them was not given a berth even though berths were available with the VIP quota.”

The notice added that even in the tickets that were confirmed, “two were given berths, which were not the lower berths”.

Chandra further noted that the Chief Justice occupies “third slot in protocol list of the state, still you did not provide adequate quota to his relatives despite having sufficient VIP/Emergency quota with you”.

Chandra added in the notice that the “High Court has expressed displeasure and unhappiness in this matter”, and asked the officials to furnish on April 20 at 11 am the “names and addresses of passengers who were given Sleeper berths in Patna Express 22843 on the said date under the VIP quota”.

The notice was copied to the General Manager and Divisional Railway Manager of SECR, and the High Court Registrar General.

SECR’s Kumar, however, denied that there was any breach of procedure.

“There is a warrant of precedence for the VIP quota. It includes the chief justice and judges of the High Court. It also includes their relatives, but only when they are travelling with the chief justice. Friends and acquaintances are not covered. In the present case, we got requisitions of people who were not travelling with the Chief Justice, but we still tried to accommodate them,” he said, adding that his response included the list of all passengers travelling on VIP quota on the train that day.

Court officials confirmed that they had received a reply to the notice from Kumar but added that Chandra was yet to examine it as he was travelling. “If the response is unsatisfactory, we might ask for more details,” an official said.

When contacted, High Court Registrar General A K Panda said that he had “not received the copy of the notice so far”.

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