Aggrieved by a recent Gujarat High Court decision that upheld the Central POTA Review Committee’s (CPRC) recommendation to drop POTA charges against the 134 accused in the Godhra carnage, a father has approached the Supreme Court, seeking that the decision be set aside.

Sardarji Maganji Waghela lost his son in the fire that engulfed the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express at the Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002.

On February 13, a High Court bench comprising justices Bhagwati Prasad and Bankim Mehta upheld that the CPRC recommendation that charges framed under POTA against the accused in the Godhra train burning case be withdrawn.

Though the High Court had not interfered with the findings of the CPRC, it had allowed the victim’s father to approach the apex court within two weeks against its verdict by extending the stay on all proceedings in connection with the case. The transfer of case from the designated POTA Court to the Sessions Court was also stayed.

Not inclined to pass any urgent directions, a bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam has now said that the matter will be heard in the routine course as the date of hearing has been notified by the Registry. The matter is scheduled for hearing on March 6.

Only last October, the Supreme Court had held that the findings of the CPRC to drop charges under the repealed law will be binding on the government and the designated court. The apex court had given this order even as it had upheld the constitutional validity of the Committee’s opinion while adding that it was binding on the special POTA Court trying the Godhra carnage cases.

Waghela was the petitioner in the case in which the High Court gave its order.