COIMBATORE: The State Transport Appellate Tribunal (STAT) in Chennai has issued stay on the order passed by district collector in which he directed all private bus operators to fix stage fare between Mettupalayam road new bus stand and Mettupalayam bus stand.
In the second week of September second week, district collector GS Sameeran issued an order to both government and private bus operators to fix the stage fare, which many expected to be Rs 3 less than the current Rs 20. The collector issued the order after consumer organisations complained that the charges were exorbitant.
According to sources, the buses collect Rs 23 for the distance from Gandhipuram bus stand to Mettupalayam and Rs 20 from Mettupalayam road bus stand to Mettupalayam. However, both private and government buses collect Rs 23.
K Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, said RTO’s of Coimbatore North had misguided the administration because of which the collector, who is also the head of Regional Transport Authority (RTA), issued an order without checking the previous orders.
The STAT order issued in 2021 states that stage fare should be fixed only after issuing notices to all private bus operators and getting their opinion However, Sameeran allegedly issued notices to only a few operators on September 12, he alleged. Kathirmathiyon further said that officials were misguiding the administration on the issue for over a decade, adding that because of the delay in fixing stage fare, passengers were being fleeced.
Coimbatore North RTO T Sivagurunathan refused to comment because the issue was before the STAT. Further, he said they were yet to receive the copy of the stay order. R Santhamoorthy, president of Mettupalayam Consumer Protection Organisation, said he would explain to STAT that the RTOs were not handling the issue effectively, during the next hearing scheduled in Chennai on October 17.