Madras HC dismissed the plea of TN Govt. seeking clarification of the order that directed them to purchase only accessible low floor buses.

Court:             Madras High Court, India

Case Title:     The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai) Ltd. Vs. Vaishnavi Jayakumar & Ors.

Case No. :      WMP/83132/2022 in WP/5957/2021

Filed on :        03-08-2022  

Reiterating its earlier order, the Madras High Court refused to alter or clarify its earlier order dated 05 Jul 2022 on allowing only low floor disabled friendly buses in the state.  The earlier order had directed the state transport corporations to procure 2,213 buses in strict compliance with the rules and regulations of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Act and that cannot be altered, said the  the first bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N Mala.

“The order was passed as per the directions of the Supreme Court. If you (the corporation) want to alter it you have to approach the Supreme Court,”

While passing the last order, the the bench had lifted the ban on procuring new public transport buses on condition that the corporation shall comply with the rules and regulations of the RPWD Act. Subsequently, alleging that the condition to comply with the rules caused an impediment, the corporation moved a memo to clarify the order.

The corporation sought to submit that operating the low-floor disabled-friendly buses was difficult, as it caused damage to buses. But the court refused to accept the contention, and thus the plea was permitted to be withdrwan and thus the Court dismissed the same as withdrawn. 

The attempt of the corporation only shows that instead of addressing the accessibility of roads and buses, it sought to find ways not to implemnet the law of the land citing frivolous excuses for a long time. In earlier matters filed before the Madras HC, the court had clearly said that while it accepted that it may be difficult and costly to make the existing buses accessible, henceeforth all new buses purchased to replenish the public trdansport fleet must be accessible complying with the law and the State happily agreed to it. However, it started putting forth flimsy excuses and did not take any action on improving the road infrastructure, bus boarding platforms and road conditions etc.

Here is the copy of the Affidavit on behalf of Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai) Ltd. embedded below: