Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Indian Railways to file a fresh status report in a matter relating to alleged supply of contaminated drinking water to passengers and manipulation in the award of contracts for setting up chlorination plants.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad was informed by the petitioner’s counsel that the last status report was filed by the railways in October 2019.

“Let a fresh status report be filed in the matter within six weeks. List on February 15, 2023,” the bench said.

The high court was hearing a plea by the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation seeking an independent and preferably court-monitored probe into the alleged neglect of the quality of drinking water being supplied and manipulation in the award of contracts for setting up chlorination plants.

The high court had earlier questioned the Indian Railways’ past decision to hike fares when it was not providing proper services and asked it to stop serving contaminated water to passengers.

It had directed that the matter be placed before the Railway Board chairman who shall prepare a report on the kind of water made available to passengers. The report was to be placed before the ministry of railways.

The NGO’s lawyers had earlier said the railways were neither adhering to the standards laid down for drinking water by the Bureau of Indian Standards nor following the Indian Railways Medical Manual.

They had said the water being provided at stations and trains was not even being tested for presence of E.coli bacteria.

The NGO has contended that while the Indian Railways, which has an independent water supply system all over the country, is able to keep trains running by meeting the requirement of water for washing and cleaning of coaches, tracks and platforms, it is “failing to supply safe and wholesome drinking water to millions of railway passengers and its staff who live in the railway colonies”.

Cop ID hacked, three passport pleas cleared

Mumbai: An unidentified person got access to the login ID and password of a Mumbai police officer in the passport branch and cleared three applications pending verification, an official said on Wednesday. An FIR was registered against the unidentified person for hacking and logging into the online passport verification system managed by the central government and completing the verification process of three passport applications, he said.

The accused got access to the login ID and password of a police officer of the passport branch and completed the verification process. The investigation revealed that the incident occurred on September 24 when the special branch (2) office was shut because of a government holiday. The three persons whose verification papers were cleared are residents of Antop Hill, Chembur and Tilak Nagar, in Mumbai.