Contrary to the Union Government’s stand in favour of validating e-rickshaws plying in large numbers in the Capital, the Delhi Government on Wednesday said their operation was “wholly unauthorised and illegal” under the law and their presence on the city roads posed a danger to public safety.
Delhi Chief Secretary S. K. Srivastava said in his reply to a writ petition in the Delhi High Court seeking regulation of e-rickshaws that that the battery-operated rickshaws were “motor vehicles” under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and no separate policy or regulation governing them could have been framed by the Delhi Government.
The Delhi Government’s Transport Department has been impounding e-rickshaws and has also issued public notices and requested the Delhi Police from time to time for taking action against e-rickshaw operators, stated the affidavit filed by Mr. Srivastava through the Government’s standing counsel.
Earlier in June, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced at a rally of e-rickshaw owners and drivers here that the battery-operated rickshaws with motor power up to 650 watts would be considered non-motorised vehicles and would not be barred from operating. The Minister had stated that the Transport Department and traffic police would not challan e-rickshaws. These were to be regularised by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi by registering them with a fee of Rs.100. This would enable the e-rickshaw drivers to earn their livelihood, he had announced.
A Division Bench of the High Court, before which the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, pulled up the Delhi Government for allowing “unregulated transport” in the city. The Court said the e-rickshaws could not be allowed to ply uncontrolled without licence, registration or insurance.
The Bench, comprising Justice B. D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul, gave time to the Delhi Government till July 31 to clarify its stand on what it intends to do to regulate the plying of e-rickshaws. The Court asked how they were running on the city roads without complying with the rules and regulations.
When the petitioner’s counsel pointed out that a couple of persons had died in accidents involving e-rickshaws, the Court expressed surprise over the fact that the e-rickshaw drivers were not booked despite accidents and people getting injured.
The Chief Secretary’s affidavit was filed following the High Court order of May 21 this year asking for disclosure of circumstances in which e-rickshaws were allowed to ply in Delhi. The petition, filed by social activist Shahnawaz Khan, has sought regulation of e-rickshaws while pointing out that they were operated with four 12 volt batteries with power output of 650 to 850 watts.
The affidavit stated that the Delhi Government had stopped taking action against e-rickshaws after the Union Transport Minister announced a Deendayal e-rickshaw scheme in the rally and promised to change the laws pertaining to these vehicles in order to take them out of the ambit of the Motor Vehicles Act.
“Unscrupulous manufacturers and importers disguised their products as legal ones under the garb of exemption clause [in the MV Act]...The e-rickshaw models which were legally permissible have not been able to survive competition from the commercially viable imported e-rickshaws,” said the affidavit. The affidavit suggested that the petitioner implead the Union Road Transport Ministry as a necessary party in the case.
