NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has directed the Union Ministry of Railways to inform it within four weeks about the steps it is going to take to improve hygiene in the pantry cars of trains.

A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice M.K. Sharma and Justice Hima Kohli directed the Railways to file an affidavit about their plans to improve the deplorable hygiene condition in pantry cars.

The Bench issued the directions after going through an inspection report about the hygiene conditions in seven of the trains -- Jammu Rajdhani, Chhattisgarh Express, Karnataka Express, Punjab Mail, Dibrugarh Rajdhani, Purushattam Expres and Swaraj Express -- by the Court-appointed four-member committee.

The committee in its report submitted that except in the Dibrugarh Rajdhani, the hygiene condition in all the above-mentioned trains was condemnable.

The pantry cars' employees were cutting vegetables on a dirty floor, hot cases were being used as cupboards, boilers and deep freezers were not functioning and the cooked food was covered with gunny bags.

The committee also submitted to the Court photographs of the pantry cars of these trains in support of their inspection report.

The Bench has been hearing public interest litigation by advocate Varun Goswami accusing the Railways of supplying unhygienic food to passengers on running trains across the country.

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