Katra-Banihal rail link: HC directs Centre to form committee

The Delhi High Court today directed the Centre to form a committee to carry out a review of the controversial 125km-long Katra-Banihal section of the rail link to Kashmir.
A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul, while disposing of the plea, directed the ministry to submit the report of the committe within four weeks.
"Why are you objecting to the concerns raised by the petitioner? What is the difficulty in forming a committee and look into the issues raised in the petition?
"We need not go into the arguments and counter arguments. We feel that the respondents be given more time. We direct the Railways to form a committee and submit the report within four weeks," the bench said.

The court was hearing a petition by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), through advocate Prashant Bhushan, who had alleged that the railways have not constituted a committee within the stipulated period of four weeks given in May this year.