The direction was given by a division bench comprising Chief Justice M B Shah and Justice S Radhakrishnan today on a public interest petition filed by Citizens for a Just Society, a social organisation, today. The petition alleges negligence by the railway authorities in checking encroachments on railway land.

The court's direction assumes significance in the wake of more than 40 stone-pelting incidents on Mumbai's commuters this year, besides the maiming of collegian Jaybala Ashar during a mugging incident in a local train and a shootout at Bandra railway station on November 4.

Making his submission, counsel for the petitioner, Dr B K Subbarao, claimed that the Railway Ministry as well aspolitical parties have done nothing to stem encroachments on railway property and along the tracks, but they are also trying to regularise these slums. This, he pointed out, endangers the safety of commuters.

He said Section 147 of the IRA makes it mandatory for railway officers to remove trespassers on railway property.

Incidentally, Union Minister of State for Railways Ram Naik recently announced that the railways would give no-objection certificates to slum-dwellers living beyond the 10-mt safety zone, which would make them eligible for civic amenities.

However, Dr Subbarao told the court: ``The failure by railway officers to act under Section 147 has gradually led to the build-up of hutments to this level.'' There are more than 28,000 hutments flanking the entire suburban railway stretch in the city.

Dwelling on other sections relating to the duties of the chief commissioner of railway safety, a post created in 1989 following an amendment to the IRA, Subbarao said these commissioners (who headvarious zones) are supposed to periodically inspect railway property and submit annual reports on railway safety which must be tabled before both Houses of Parliament.

The counsel pointed out that if these reports had been filed regularly and if they reflected mounting dangers in the suburban railway system, the situation would not have been as grave as it is now. He urged the court to take notice of such violations of law.

The petition seeks the prosecution of officials who have failed to stop encroachments under Sections 153 and 154 of the IRA, which calls for stringent punishment for officers for omission or negligence of duty while protecting railway property. It says the growth of the slums along the tracks would not have occurred without the connivance of railway officials.Even the likelihood of endangering commuters would qualify the officials concerned for punishment, the counsel maintained.

In real terms, this would mean that even a rationing officer would be seen as an accomplice because heencourages slum-dwellers to continue to reside on the land, he told Express Newsline after the hearing.

The respondents have been asked to file affidavits stating their stand before the court on or before December 14.