The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday said that the fresh permits, issued to the autorickshaws in the city by enhancing the ceiling of permits from 1,25,000 to 1,55,000, would be subject to the result of a PIL petition, which has raised concern over the impact on the environment and congestion on roads.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice L. Narayana Swamy and Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar passed the interim order after hearing the petition, filed by Nithin R. Puthige, a city-based software engineer.
Pointing out that there is no basis for increasing the number of permits, the petitioner has claimed that though the transport authorities impose a ceiling for grant of permits for autorickshaws, there is no mechanism to check whether the permits of the autorickshaws plying in the city are genuine.
Even the process of digitising autorickshaw permits is not completed, the petitioner claimed. The process was initiated a few years ago. The petitioner pointed out that the ceiling for permits was enhanced at regular interval with the ceiling now set at 1.5 lakh from 70,000 in 1999. The petitioner claimed that grant of new permits would cause hardship to the drivers depending on the existing permits.
The petitioner said that there is also flooding of taxies post 2014 with the entry of taxi aggregators. The number taxies had increased to 1,05,000 in 2016-17 from around 66,200 in 2014, and pointed out that there is no ceiling for grant of permits for taxies.
While seeking directions to the State to adhere to the apex court’s directions to check vehicular pollution, the petitioner has requested the court to direct the authorities to impose a ceiling for grant of stage carriage and contract carriage permits, and not to grant fresh permits to autorickhaws and taxies in the city.