Disclaimer: This has been reported after the availability of the order of the Court and not on media reports so as to give an accurate report to our readers.
Chhattisgarh High Court: In a suo motu public interest litigation (‘PIL’) petition registered regarding the incident related to railway officials partying in the boxing ring of the South East Central Railway (“SECR”), the Division Bench of Ramesh Sinha, CJ., Bibhu Datta Guru, J., expressed disdain for such behaviour and directed the SECR General Manager to submit a report after conducting an inquiry into the matter before the next date of hearing.
Background
The present PIL was registered due to a news item published in Dainik Bhaskar regarding a picture of the Railway Department officials wherein it could be seen that the Zone’s Sports Cell in-charge celebrated his and his colleague’s birthday with food and alcohol in the SECR’s boxing ring. A Railway player shared the photos with Dainik Bhaskar. According to the news report, the aforesaid photos of the SECR Zone’s Sports Cell in-charge, Coaches, Assistant Coaches, and players from various sports, holding bottles and glasses filled with alcohol, went viral on social media.
The Senior Divisional Commercial Manager stated that the boxing ring was for the players to practice, and drinking alcohol was prohibited there. Thus, the matter would be investigated.
Analysis
The Court stated that, prima facie, such conduct reflected gross misconduct and disregard for the sanctity of a place meant for sports training and practice.
When confronted with the aforementioned news item, the General Manager of SECR sought time to conduct a detailed inquiry into the matter and submit a report in the form of an affidavit.
Since the General Manager, SECR, sought time to enquire into the matter, the Court directed that he shall submit a report in the form of a personal affidavit before the next date of hearing, indicating the outcome of such inquiry and the action, if any, proposed or taken against the erring officials.
The matter was listed for 31-10-2025.
[In The Matter Of Suo Moto Public Interest Litigation v. Union Of India, 2025 SCC OnLine Chh 10208, decided on 23-10-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the respondent: Deputy Solicitor General Ramakant Mishra and Standing Counsel Rishabh Deo Singh