The Madras High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain two public interest litigation petitions filed against the recent increase in government bus fares. Agreeing that the increase in prices of essential commodities and public services would certainly affect the common man, the court said such hardship could not be cited as a reason for the judiciary to interfere in fiscal policy decisions of the government.
The first Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose added that it was not for the court to entertain public interest litigation petitions filed under Article 226 (writ jurisdiction) of the Constitution and decide what should be the appropriate fare for public services. Fares could be revised only by the government by taking into consideration various factors including the expenses incurred by it.
In the same breath, the judges made it clear that courts could interfere in such fiscal decisions of the government only in exceptional and rarest of rare cases where the increase in fares was found to be so steep that it would not permit the judicial conscience of the court to accept such a revision. In so far as the present cases were concerned, the judges held that they do not call for the interference of the court.
Authoring the judgement for the Bench, the Chief Justice pointed out that even according to the petitioners, the minimum fare for city buses had been increased from ₹3 to ₹5 and the maximum fare had been raised from ₹12 to ₹19. Similarly, in so far as inter-city services were concerned, the fare for Chennai-Madurai had been increased from ₹275 to ₹415 in super-deluxe buses and ₹325 to ₹ 505 in ultra-deluxe buses.
“There can hardly be any doubt that the hike will affect users of bus services, but unfortunately, courts cannot interfere in this matter,” the Bench said. It, however, directed the government to make sure that the fare charts were displayed not only in bus stands and terminus but also inside the government as well as private buses so that the passengers get to know the exact fares that they were supposed to pay for their travel.
