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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Can't punish people for not using public transport: HC -Abhinav Garg

Can't punish people for not using public transport: HC -Abhinav Garg

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published Published on Sep 25, 2012   modified Modified on Sep 25, 2012
-The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Car users can't be penalized for not switching to public transport system, Delhi high court observed on Monday while analyzing the effectiveness of the BRT corridor.

"The policy shouldn't be such that you will be punished for doing something... that's not the way to encourage people to use public transport and discourage use of private vehicles," a division bench comprising Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Manmohan Singh remarked while wrapping up a marathon hearing on a PIL that challenges the BRT corridor. HC reserved its orders on the PIL seeking to scrap 5.8km-long Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand BRT, even as it dismissed a plea by NGO Nyay Bhoomi seeking contempt proceedings against the government.

The court was responding to an argument by Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for an organization that favours the BRT. Bhushan made light of the delays faced by car users on the BRT stretch, saying "unless they (car users) are punished, they will not shift to public transport system". He also claimed that Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) was not the right body to study the corridor, and HC should instead rope in Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure Planning & Engineering Centre ( UTTIPEC) to assist it in forming a view.

But HC acknowledged that the slow-moving traffic on BRT created problems for car users and others who do not opt for buses, and argued they cannot be punished to shift to public transport. During the four-hour-long hearing, HC heard a cross-section of views from the government, Nyay Bhoomi, CRRI and Bhushan.

It also frowned upon the absence of senior advocate K T S Tulsi, appearing for the Delhi government, as it wanted to know if the government was conscious of the traffic problems that might crop up at other places earmarked for extension of the BRT project. "Arrangements have to be made in advance to solve the problem," the court said.

Earlier, B B Sharan, speaking for Nyaya Bhoomi, had referred to the survey report of CRRI on BRT here and sought its scrapping on the ground that it was harassing commuters and was a waste of public money. Sharan also referred to the master plan to drive home the point that a dedicated BRT corridor cannot be implemented on narrow roads as it would hardly leave any space for other vehicles. The bench asked Sharan to cite case laws to establish that the PIL was maintainable.

"The decision is a policy decision of the executive and how can it be the subject matter of the PIL?" the bench wanted to know. "Right to equality (in using road space) has been infringed by denying car, other vehicle users the requisite road space. Forty-five per cent road space has been eaten away by BRT alone," Sharan replied.

The Times of India, 25 September, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Cant-punish-people-for-not-using-public-transport-HC/articleshow/16536265.cms


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