Dismisses rickshaw union's petitions that challenged the state notification to make electronic rickshaw meters mandatory from April 1
The Bombay High Court on Saturday dismissed a batch of petitions filed by various rickshaw unions that had challenged the Maharashtra State notification making electronic meters compulsory from April 1 onwards. The court held that the larger interests of the public had to be takenu00a0into account when deciding whether the policy ought to be set aside.u00a0A division bench of justices PB Majmudar and RD Dhanuka was hearing petitions filed by the Mumbai autorickshawmen’s Union and a manufacturer of mechanical meters challenging the notification. E-meters will be installed in new autorickshaws from March 1 and inu00a0existing ones from April.
There are nearly two lakh autorickshaws in Mumbai. In earlier hearings, Union counsel Anil Sakhare had argued that the notification was based on a February 1, 2011 report prepared by a committee of experts and bureaucrats, and a subsequent November 24, 2011 technical committee report. Sakhare had contended that the unions were not allowed to participate in the hearing. He had said that this was done without conducting a proper study or following a set procedure. Also there wasn’t proper infrastructure in Maharashtra.
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For the last few days, rickshaw drivers have been making a beeline to local RTOs to get fitness certificates for their mechanical meters. Successfully passing the test would mean avoiding switching over to the e-meters for another year. The implementation of the scheme is set to be carried out in a phased manner, starting fromu00a0April 1.
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