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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | SC calls for space on Metro for rich -R Balaji

SC calls for space on Metro for rich -R Balaji

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published Published on Jan 6, 2016   modified Modified on Jan 6, 2016
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: The "Mercedes" class left squirming by Delhi's odd-even car rationing today received sympathy from the Supreme Court, which suggested that Metro trains earmark premium seats where the affluent can sit "dignified" at a price.

"Mr Kumar, car owners who are coming (to the Delhi Metro), they must get some space to sit," Chief Justice T.S. Thakur told solicitor-general Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre in a case filed by car manufacturers against a diesel-vehicle registration freeze.

"Like, let us say, some of the clients of Mr (Abhishek) Singhvi (counsel for some of the automakers) travel in big cars like Mercedes, Toyota, etc," the court continued in a lighter vein before turning serious.

"But when such people are using the Metro, why can't you make suitable arrangements for more space?" Justice Thakur asked.

"You can have premium fares for such persons. Maybe you can increase the fare fivefold for such passengers. For instance, if the fare is Rs 20, make it Rs 100 for such passengers for a dignified place to sit."

Kumar said the Metro was already in the process of launching special coaches for a special class of passengers. He did not elaborate.

There was hope for the common man too. The bench suggested that Metro trains' frequency be doubled from one every three minutes to one every 90 seconds to cope with the rush set off by the odd-even rule.

The bench asked the Centre and the Delhi government, which hold 50 per cent equity each in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, to respond to both suggestions at the next hearing on February 2.

By then, the capital's 15-day experiment with allowing odd and even-numbered cars to ply only on alternate days will be over, but the state government has said the formula can be reintroduced whenever air pollution worsens.

The bench, which included Justices A.K. Sikri and R. Banumathi, was hearing car manufacturers contesting its December 16 directive banning registration of diesel vehicles above 2000cc (SUVs and luxury cars) in the National Capital Region.

During the hearing, amicus curiae (friend of the court) Harish Salve said the government should ensure that commuters are not inconvenienced by lack of sitting space in the Metro, and the court took the suggestion up.

Delhi Metro trains are largely overcrowded, and the crush has worsened since the odd-even rationing was introduced on January 1.

Train frequency

Salve, a senior lawyer appointed to advise the court in the case, said that despite a 1998 apex court directive that the capital must have at least 10,000 buses by 2001, Delhi still had only 5,000-odd buses.

Delhi government counsel Rahul Mehra contested this, saying the capital had 7,000 buses. If the fleet was to be enlarged, he said, the state needed at least 500 acres of land to build bus depots.

Since land comes under the Delhi Development Authority, it's for the Centre to take a decision, he argued. The court then asked Kumar to elicit the Centre's views on the request.

Salve said the Delhi Metro followed an unusual practice of carrying out maintenance and cleaning during peak hours, which delayed its trains and prevented an increase in frequency.

He said the global practice was to do it late at night or in the small hours when there are no train services. The court asked the Metro to look into the suggestion.

Registration ban

The bench had initially told the automakers it would not modify its December 16 order unless they convinced it that diesel vehicles were not polluting the capital's environment. It eventually agreed to examine the plea on February 2.

Big automakers like Toyota, Mahindra, Mercedes and General Motors had argued the ban would leave thousands of employees jobless and claimed that their cars contributed just 0.2 per cent to Delhi's air pollution.

"Do your cars emit oxygen?" the court said, drawing laughter. "Tell us whether a diesel vehicle is a polluting vehicle or not in comparison to petrol."

It went on: "When a person goes to buy a diesel car, he must realise he is buying a polluting vehicle and the 'polluter pays' principle shall be applied to him."

Justice Thakur asked Kumar why central government departments continued to use diesel vehicles.

Kumar replied that the Centre had decided to phase out all official diesel vehicles that were 10 years old and convert the rest to CNG if the technology was available. He said experiments were being conducted on the subject.

'Clean' fuel

The bench recorded an undertaking from Kumar that the Centre would complete the process of supplying Bharat Stage VI fuel for all four-wheelers in the country by April 1, 2020. For this, it said, the manufacturers should produce only BS-VI-compliant four wheelers.

Senior counsel P. Chidambaram, appearing for some of the automakers, said the deadline was unrealistic because adopting the technology involves enormous time, money and infrastructure development.

The bench banned the entry of all non-Delhi-bound heavy commercial vehicles from four additional entry points on NH2 (Palwal-Faridabad), NH10 (Tikri border near Bahadurgarh), NH58 (Meerut-Ghaziabad) and state highway 57, which connects Ghaziabad to Baghpat.

Earlier, the court had restricted the entry of trucks not bound for Delhi through NH1 and NH8. It has directed the state governments concerned and the Centre to work out alternative routes for the trucks.

The Telegraph, 5 January, 2016, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160106/jsp/nation/story_62403.jsp#.VoyBKlI1t_k


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