Lalu Prasad, who represents Saran in the Lok Sabha, had announced the setting up of the wagon-repairing workshop soon after becoming railway minister. Over 100 acres of mostly fertile agricultural land was identified for the workshop in 2005.

According to the petition, the land belongs to four villages Ismailchak, Govindpur, Chakapsaid and Chitranjanpur under Sonepur block and the villagers were opposed to parting with their land for the project.

The PIL described the railways' decision to acquire land by displacing villagers as unreasonable, arbitrary and unconstitutional.

"The railways had selected land for acquisition belonging to marginal farmers who would be forced to turn landless labourers in the absence of any means of livelihood," the petition said.

It further said that the state government had recommended the railway ministry to set up any new project at Garhara in Begusarai district where over 2,000 acres of land lay vacant and unused.

Taking this into account, the court asked the railways why the land available in Begusarai was considered not suitable and why land elsewhere had not been selected for the construction of the railway workshop.