The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Indian Railways why it was selling train tickets beyond the number of passengers that could be accommodated in a coach, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela was hearing a public interest litigation petition by Arth Vidhi, a group of lawyers and entrepreneurs, seeking safety measures to prevent stampedes like the one that occurred at New Delhi Railway Station on February 15.

The stampede, which took place amid a surge in passengers going to the Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, led to 18 deaths and left many injured.

The petitioners have sought proper implementation of the provisions under the Railways Act to prevent similar incidents.

“If you fix the number of passengers to be accommodated in a coach then why do you sell, why the number of tickets sold exceed that number?” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying on Wednesday. “That is a problem.”

The court also referred to Section 57 of the Railways Act, which directs the administration to fix the maximum number of passengers accommodated in each compartment of every type of coach.

“If you implement a simple thing in a positive manner in letter and spirit, such situation can be avoided,” the court said. “On rush days you may increase that number to accommodate the rush depending on exigencies which keep on arriving from time to time. But not fixing the strength to be accommodated in a coach, this provision appears to have been neglected all along.”

The court sought the response of the Union government, the Indian Railways and Railway Board on the petition.

During the proceedings, the counsel for Arth Vidhi said that the petition noted the “mismanagement, gross negligence and complete failure of the administration that caused the stampede” on February 15.

In response, Gedela said that measures had been taken after the incident. “Are you aware of how many lakhs of people were at the station that day?” he said. “Infrastructurally, it may not be possible to control that kind of crowd…It is not something like a railway accident to claim negligence.”

The counsel for the petitioner referred to Sections 57 and 157 of the Railways Act. Section 157 states that a passenger can be punished for altering or defacing a pass or ticket.

“Airports have mechanisms to know how many people are there,” Bar and Bench quoted the counsel as saying. “Indian Railways has no such mechanism. There is no notification or circular for unreserved class. If railways is not following its own rules, then how can we expect security.”

The petitioner also told the court that over 9,600 unreserved tickets were sold on February 15 and that the stampede could have been prevented if the authorities complied with statutory obligations, Live Law reported.

“If railway could have complied with its own rules and provisions, lot of the things could have been prevented,” Live Law quoted the petitioner as saying. “The petition is in national interest and larger public interest. I am not commenting on infrastructure or policy issues.”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the railways, told the court that he was not taking an adversarial stand. “This is law, we are bound by it,” he said. “No mandamus needed for it.”

A mandamus is a court order that compels a government official or entity to perform a legal duty or stop an illegal action.

Mehta added that the matter shall be examined by the Railway Board, Live Law reported.

“Let the issues raised be examined as suggested by the SG [solicitor general] at the highest level by the Railway Board and a short affidavit be filed by the respondents giving details of the decisions which might be taken by the railway board,” the court said.

The matter was listed for March 26.