The High Court has granted 10 days’ time to the Delhi government to release financial assistance package of ₹5,000 each to eligible drivers of autorickshaws, e-rickshaws and Gramin sewa, who have not yet received the amount.
The High Court was informed that the Transport Department has identified 11,780 applicants holding non-chip PSV (public service vehicle) badges out of which a sum of ₹5,000 has already been deposited directly in the bank accounts of 4,835 persons.
When the Transport Department stated that the remaining 4,825 persons will get the assistance package deposited into their bank accounts in a period of 15 days, the court said, “Already enough time has been taken by the respondent No.4/Transport Department to release the assistance package as the scheme was announced in early April, 2020, and now, it is already end of May, 2020”.
“There was enough time for the Department to have processed all the applications and released the funds to those who were eligible,” a Bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad remarked.
“As a last opportunity, we grant 10 days’ time to the respondent No.4/Transport Department to clear the balance list by depositing a sum of ₹5,000 each into bank accounts of the eligible non-chip PSV badge holders, whose grievance has been espoused in the present petition,” it ordered.
The HC’s direction came while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by Nayee Soch Society seeking directions to the Department of Transport to provide a one-time financial benefit of ₹5,000 each to lifetime PSV badge holders.
The plea stated that the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on April 2 announced a one-time relief assistance package of ₹5,000 each to autorickshaw, e-rickshaw and Gramin sewa vehicle drivers, as a compensation for the loss that they would suffer on account of the COVID-19 lockdown.
It further contended that the Transport Department is discriminating between PSV badge holders who have a chip fixed in their badges against PSV badge holders who do not have a chip fixed in their badges.
Responding to the petition, the Transport Department told the court that it was giving financial assistance of ₹5,000 each to every PSV badge holder in Delhi who has a valid driving licence on or after February 1, 2020, irrespective of whether the said badge is a chip-based badge or a badge without a chip.
