Accept Lawyers’ ID Card As Valid Proof For Train Journey: Kerala High Court To Indian Railways

The Kerala High Court has ordered Indian Railways to accept the identity cards issued by Bar Councils as a valid proof for railway travel, Bar and Bench has reported. Bar Council cards were rejected by the Railways due to lack of uniformity among different bar councils at different levels. Railways had also argued that Bar Councils were not government bodies and hence their ID proofs can’t be accepted.

Justice Devan Ramachandran who heard the case held that the position taken by Indian Railways was not tenable. The court said that there was only one Bar council per state and a single All India Bar Council while dismissing the argument about the multiplicity of bar councils at various levels. Further, the judge added that Bar Councils were statutory bodies as they were constituted under ‘Advocate’s Act’.

“It becomes ineluctable that there cannot be any further cause or concern for the Indian Railways, in accepting the photo identity cards issued by the various Bar Councils, since the respective Councils are obligated to verify and affirm the authenticity of a card issued by them, in case its genuineness is suspected for any reason by the competent Authorities of the Indian Railways”, Justice Ramachandran wrote in his judgement.