The Madras High Court Bench here on Tuesday directed the police to crack down on those who were misusing the bigger passenger compartment of the ‘Ape’ brand of auto-rickshaws, manufactured by Piaggio Vehicles, and plying them as ‘share auto-rickshaws’ in contravention of the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988.
Passing interim orders on a public interest litigation petition, the First Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana ordered that strict action, including suspension or cancellation of permits, should be taken against those using the Ape auto-rickshaws as stage carriages and plying them with more than three passengers at a time.
The judges pointed out that the Motor Vehicles Act categorises commercial passenger vehicles into two categories: contract carriages and stage carriages. Section 2(6) of the legislation defines contract carriage to mean a motor vehicle used to transport passengers from one point to another without stopping en route to either pick up or drop passengers.
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Different definitions
On the other hand, stage carriage has been defined to mean a vehicle constructed or adapted to carry more than six passengers, excluding the driver, for hire or reward at separate fares paid by individual passengers either for the whole journey or for stages of the journey. All kinds of auto-rickshaws in the State have been issued only with contract carriage permits.
Further, the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicle Rules of 1989 defines the term ‘autorickshaw’ to mean a motor vehicle constructed, adapted or used to carry not more than three passengers, excluding the driver, for hire or reward and having less than four wheels. The term ‘share autorickshaw’ carries a similar definition but for that it could carry up to five passengers.
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A Government Order was issued on October 30, 1988, for issuance of permits to share auto-rickshaws, under the category of ‘LMV Three Wheeler-Five Seater’. The G.O. stated that share auto-rickshaws need not be fitted with fare metres and that they were exempted from fares fixed for ordinary auto-rickshaws.
It was also made clear that share auto-rickshaws shall charge fare at the rate of ₹1 for every kilometre from the passengers and that they could be operated within a radius of 30 km in district headquarters. A maximum of 50 share auto-rickshaw permits were earmarked for every district.
However, stating that the ‘Ape’ brand of auto-rickshaws were considered only as regular ones which could ply with a maximum of three passengers from one point to another, the judges said those vehicles could not be used either as stage carriages or share auto-rickshaws just by exploiting the sheer size of the vehicle and adding additional seats.