Madras HC directs CMRL to conduct surprise checks in Metro trains to ensure priority seating for senior citizens, PwDs

The Madras High Court on Monday (January 19, 2026) directed Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) to conduct surprise inspections in Metro trains and take appropriate action to ensure that senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PwDs) are not denied the priority seats earmarked for them.

The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan also directed CMRL to initiate appropriate action if it receives specific complaints from senior citizens and persons with disabilities regarding the same.

The orders were passed while disposing of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by advocate V.B.R. Menon, who insisted that a reasonable number of seats in every Metro train must be reserved exclusively for senior citizens and persons with disabilities, just as how an entire coach in every train is reserved for women.

He told the court that CMRL’s practice of pasting stickers on select seats in every coach, stating they must be offered on a priority basis to senior citizens and passengers with disabilities, does not help, as those seats are almost always occupied by able-bodied men.

Complaining that a majority of these men do not vacate the seats for senior citizens and passengers with disabilities, the petitioner said that the problem can be resolved only if such passengers were provided with reserved seats, which cannot be occupied by anyone else.

“There is a difference between priority seating and earmarking seats exclusively for the use of senior citizens and the physically challenged. What is being done now by CMRL is only to offer priority seating, not earmarking seats exclusively for the use of such passengers,” Mr. Menon told the court.

On the other hand, State Government Pleader A. Edwin Prabakar told the court that able-bodied men can sit on the seats earmarked for senior citizens/PwDs only when such passengers are not present. Otherwise, those seats must be offered to senior citizens/PWDs.

He said that passengers can always lodge complaints via the intercom available in every coach of the Metro trains and that necessary action will be taken to get them seated. “CMRL has also begun to make oral announcements regarding the seats earmarked for senior citizens and the physically challenged,” he said.

After hearing both sides, the judges said, it would be up to the CMRL to consider the suggestions made by the petitioner regarding reservation of seats for the exclusive use of senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Until then, surprise inspections must be carried out and necessary action must be initiated, the Bench stated.