Madras HC issues notice on plea to restrict issuance of fresh auto rickshaw permits

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Union and state government on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which sought direction to the transport commissioner and Madurai collector not to issue any fresh permits for CNG auto rickshaws till the Centre and state come up with a notification limiting the number of such vehicles operating in Madurai.

The litigant N Karuppaiah submitted that Madurai is one of the most populated and congested districts in the state and 16,199 auto rickshaw permits have been issued in the city limits. In view of the increasing number of auto rickshaws, the then Madurai collector had imposed a restriction under Rule 165 of the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicle Rules by stopping issuance of fresh auto rickshaw permits. Instead, only replacement of existing auto rickshaws were allowed, he said. However, in a bid to curb pollution, the transport and road safety commissioner recently issued a communication to all collectors and regional transport officials not to follow such restrictions while issuing permits to CNG auto rickshaws in the state.

In the absence of any official notification under Section 74(3)(a) of the Motor Vehicle Act 1988, to limit the number of contract carriages, such a move would only lead to heavy traffic and pollution, Karuppaiah claimed.

Although Bench of justices SS Sundar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy refused to pass any interim order preventing issuance of fresh permits to CNG auto rickshaws, they issued notice to the concerned authorities and adjourned the hearing.