MADURAI: Observing that serving a small section of the public should not be at the cost of the safety of a larger section of the society, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court dismissed a petition filed by Madurai Omni Bus Travels Owners Welfare Association against a notification, restricting movement of omnibuses inside the city and sub-urban areas.
Justice Anita Sumanth, in her order, opined that one of the major factors of Smart City Project is strict implementation of road safety measures, balancing the same with convenience of passengers (both pedestrian and vehicular) as well as business and commercial interests of service providers.
“Since a dedicated bus stand for omnibuses with sufficient space for each member of the petitioner organisation has been established at Mattuthavani, the said notification, issued by Madurai District Collector, seems to be in alignment with Government Policy for the development of smart cities,” she said.
Regarding the convenience of the omnibus passengers for pick-up and drop facilities inside the city, the judge said, “Omnibuses must keep away from intra-city roads in order to ensure a proper system of road safety for pedestrian and vehicles and vehicle management.
Permitting the omnibuses to stop and pick passengers en route, within the city, will certainly cause substantial hardship to traffic as well as pedestrians, since such impulsive and unscheduled stops interrupt the free and safe movement of traffic.”
She further criticised that allowing State-run omnibuses to operate inside the city by providing them with state-carriage permits, instead of the contract carriage permits issued to private omnibuses, is discriminatory.
“All omnibuses, both private and State-run, whether run on ‘contract’ or ‘stage carriage’ permits shall ply strictly in compliance with the route stipulated in the impugned notification only,” declared the judge and dismissed the petition.
Both pvt and state-run vehicles should abide by law
All omnibuses, both private and State-run, whether run on ‘contract’ or ‘stage carriage’ permits shall ply strictly in compliance with the route stipulated in the impugned notification, said the court