Anti-collision device: HC tells Railways to complete probe in two months

PALAKKAD: The High Court, in a judgment, directed the Railways to complete the Vigilance inquiry within two months initiated on the complaint that the anti-collision device developed by K.R.Sahadevan of Agali was allegedly taken away from him when it was submitted for the approval at the Railway Divisional Office here which was later publicised as an innovation of the Railways.It was when O. Rajagopal was the Union Minister of State for Railways that a Vigilance inquiry was initiated on a complaint by Sahadevan.The directive of the court also stated that the outcome of the inquiry, in brief, shall be informed to the petitioner within another one month. K.R. Sahadevan of Kangath house in Pudur of Agali had filed a petition at the High Court that after developing the anticollision device, he had submitted the sketch, drawings and related proof to the Railways 13 years ago. The drawings and other proof were kept by the Railways for three months after they were submitted in 1995.It was in 1999 when the railways had announced that it had indigenously developed an anti-collision device that Sahadevan began his legal battle.The petitioner had approached the High Court seeking the intervention of the court to release the inquiry report.The respondents in the case were the Divisional Railway Manager , Palakkad Division, Chief Vigilance Officer, Chennai, and the General Manager, Southern Railway, Chennai.
Newindpress.com EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE; Monday March 17 2008 10:56 IST