The Madras High Court has permitted private buses plying between Chennai and the southern districts of T.N. to temporarily pick up and drop passengers at their garages in and around the Koyambedu Central Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) in the city, without officially declaring these as pick-up or drop-off points either on online bus reservation sites or mobile apps.
Justice R.N. Manjula said such an interim arrangement could be allowed until issues pertaining to a complete shift to the Kilambakkam Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus (KCBT) near Vandalur were settled. Apart from the garages in and around Koyambedu CMBT, private buses plying from north Chennai can also pick up and drop passengers near Surapet and Porur toll plazas, she ordered. She, however, made it clear that no private buses, plying between Chennai and the southern districts, should avoid entering the Kilambakkam KCBT to pick up as well and drop passengers.
The interim orders were passed on a batch of cases filed by individual private bus operators as well as their associations, complaining about inconveniences caused due to KCBT.
Senior Counsel Vijay Narayan, representing some of the petitioners, contended that the government could not prevent buses holding all-India permits as well as State permits from plying into Chennai city with passengers and force them to pick up and drop the passengers only from the newly-constructed KCBT. He pointed out that Kilambakkam lacked proper transport connectivity to and from the city.
Mr. Narayan said that while a bus ticket from Chennai to Madurai costs only around ₹850, passengers had to shell out as much as ₹1,200 to go in a taxi from Kilambakkam to the heart of Chennai city. However, Advocate General P.S. Raman told the court that the government had begun to operate sufficient number of local buses between Koyambedu and Kilambakkam to transport passengers.
Though private bus operators insisted on permission to pick up and drop passengers either from Koyambedu or any other place such as Alandur, Chromepet, Meenambakkam or Tambaram on the Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road in Chennai city, the A-G said it would be impossible to let them do so since the entire GST Road was already prone to heavy road traffic.
During the course of arguments, Mr. Narayan suggested that the private buses, bound to southern districts, could at least be allowed to continue the practice of picking up and dropping passengers from their garages in and around Koyambedu if the government was adamant on not allowing them to operate from CMBT. The judge accepted the suggestion as an interim measure.
Further, recording the submission of the A-G that private bus operators bound to southern districts could shift their garages to Mudichur where the government was building a new facility on five acres of land, the judge said, the present demand for operating from Koyambedu might not exist after the government completes the construction and hands over the property to the association by May 31.
She directed the High Court Registry to list the present batch of cases for final hearing on April 15 and expected the government to file its counter affidavit by then.
