Kerala High Court pulls up Railway Board over Aadhaar authentication for tatkal booking

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday pulled up the Railway Board for not responding till date, despite being granted several months' time, on whether Aadhaar authentication was mandatory for tatkal booking of tickets.

A bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V M expressed its displeasure after the counsel for the Board sought three weeks more time to respond on the issue.

"For such a simple issue you are taking so much time. You have not responded after time of several months altogether (that) has been given. If you are unable to respond, then we can decide the issue," the bench said.

The court adjourned the matter for three weeks and made it clear that the Board's response has to be filed within that period.

The observations and direction by the bench came on a public interest litigation challenging a central government circular mandating Aadhaar based authentication for tatkal bookings.