Even as the Lok Sabha passed a Bill to regularise e-rickshaws by bringing them within the ambit of the Motor Vehicles Act, the Delhi Government and Delhi Traffic Police told the Delhi High Court on Thursday that they were taking strict action against the battery-operated rickshaws plying on the roads of the Capital in violation of the court orders.
The High Court was hearing a contempt case in which it has been alleged that e-rickshaws are plying with impunity all over Delhi despite the ban. A Division Bench of the Court had on September 9 this year directed the Government authorities to allow e-rickshaws on roads only after making legislative changes to regulate their operations.
The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2014, passed in Lok Sabha, provides for the Union Government to make rules on the specifications for e-carts and e-rickshaws and the manner and conditions for issuing driving licences. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Bill's passage would ensure protection of environment and provide employment to poor people.
In its judgment, the High Court had directed that battery-operated rickshaws be allowed to ply only after their registration, release of permits, insurance coverage and issuance of driving licences to the persons operating them. Until these measures were taken, the ban on their plying was to continue as they were declared illegal under the existing laws.
While the Delhi Government’s Transport Department said in its affidavit filed in the High Court that its enforcement staff had impounded about 445 e-rickshaws since August, the Delhi Traffic Police informed the Court that it had impounded 6,602 e-rickshaws plying on the city roads in violation of the ban till November 25.
The Transport Department submitted before Justice V.K. Shali, who is hearing the contempt case, that there was a “spurt in plying” of e-rickshaws following the Centre’s notification of October 8 providing new rules for their registration. This was evident from the fact that 312 e-rickshaws were seized during October, it said. Both the Delhi Government and the Traffic Police assured the Court that they were meticulously implementing the Court’s directions.
