The Ministry of Justice today announced that the state had submitted a request to extend the deadline for its response to a petition filed by Israel Railways against the Ministry of the Economy's decision to halt railway maintenance work on the Sabbath. The request means that Israel Railways can continue carrying out maintenance and infrastructure work on the Sabbath, although under the status quo there are no passenger services from Friday sunset until Saturday sunset.
The dispute began less than a week ago, when Minister of the Economy Aryeh Deri forbade Israel Railways to work on Saturday. The company warned that this would have a negative impact on passenger services as maintenance work would have to be carried out on Fridays, and said that the opening of the high-speed railway to Jerusalem could be delayed by two years as a result. Israel Railways estimates the resulting loss in the billions of shekels.
Last Friday, Israel Railways filed a petition at the High Court of Justice against the Ministry of the Economy's decision to suspend the permit for working on the Sabbath that Israel Railways had been granted. The High Court of Justice later issued a temporary order vacating Deri's decision, and ordered the state to submit a preliminary response by September 29.
Following the court order, the Ministry of the Economy announced that it was in effect withdrawing its previous demand. "The work permits for the day of rest granted to Israel Railways will be granted or extended, whichever is relevant, subject to an assessment of whether the petitioner's requests meet the legal conditions according to the usual procedure to date before the Minister of the Economy issued his new instruction about accepted the position of the Minister of Transport in the matter," the announcement read. "The permits to be given or extended shall be valid until a different decision is made, given the court proceeding."
Advocates Joseph Benkel and Nir Shamri from the Raved, Magriso, Benkel & Co., Advocates & Notaries law firm represented Israel Railways.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 29, 2015
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