Karnataka High Court junks PIL seeking revival of shelved Belur-Sakleshpur railway line

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking the restoration of the proposal for a railway link between Belur and Sakleshpur in the state.

The Belur-Sakleshpur railway line was proposed by the state government on January 17, 2019 but the project subsequently got shelved owing to cost escalation.

The petition filed by one H C Nandish claimed that the railway link would be beneficial to the people of the region and the proposal should not be dropped.

The public interest litigation (PIL) came up for hearing before the division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi.

The government, in its objections, pointed out that while the Chikmagaluru-Belur-Sakleshpur project has been dropped, another proposal between Chikmagaluru-Beluru-Hassan-Sakleshpur-Mangaluru would connect Sakleshpur.

The government also objected to the petition stating that the petitioners are not experts and have also failed to provide any cogent material to support their claims.

The HC said it would not interfere in policy matters of the government. Quoting the Supreme Court judgment in the Union of India vs J D Suryavanshi case, the HC said it was for the Railways to decide on railway lines after considering various technical, financial and administrative considerations.