Ban on e-rickshaws to stay, rules Delhi High Court

New Delhi The Delhi High Court Tuesday said that the ban on plying of illegal erickshaws in the national capital would continue till the law is amended to bring them under the ambit of the Motor Vehicles Act adding that what is prohibited by law is not permitted in actionA division bench of Justice BD Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul confirmed that the ban imposed July 31 would stay holding that the plying of erickshaws on the roads of Delhi was and is unauthorized and illegalHigh court cannot create a statute much less permit what is prohibited by a valid statutory provision We are not creators of law but the interpreters and guardians of law and the rule of law they said In July the bench had banned plying of erickshaws on the city roads saying they were running illegally and were hazardous to other traffic as well as citizensTurning down the central governments request to let erickshaws ply till they are made lawful by parliament as thousands of people and their livelihood was being affected by the ban the court Tuesday said Can this court permit something which has been expressly prohibited by parliament and more so when none of the provisions of the said act are under challenge We think notDenying relief to erickshaw operators the bench said In sum the plying of unregistered erickshaws is illegal as per the law as it exists today We cannot anticipate the legislative changes that may be brought about or the alterations in the statutory rules that may be introduced in the future That is for parliament and the central government to consider and act upon For the present a mandamus can certainly be issued to ensure that what is prohibited by law is not permitted in actionHolding that erickshaws are plying illegally and cant be allowed to ply on roads it added In some systems of jurisprudence there is a legal maxim which says what is not prohibited is permitted But there is no authority in law for the proposition that what is validly prohibited can be validly permitted by an order of the courtThe bench dismissed the petition of the central government and the erickshaws Owners Association asking the court to review its ban The court held that erickshaws are not registered and need to have permits be covered by an appropriate insurance policy and need to be driven by people holding driving licences This we have seen has not been happening said the benchIt also said that the fund of Rs10 lakh that has to be raised by erickshaw association cannot take the place of the statutory requirement of an insurance cover The court said that the central government also recognized that erickshaws are running without any rules and so has evolved a broad framework of guidelines for making rules for erickshawsThe government and the associations had sought that the stay be vacated saying erickshaw operators live on the basis of their earnings and the government was seeking an exemption or interim directions till Oct 15 by when it would be able to bring an amendment in the rules under the Motor Vehicles ActThe court however had repeatedly asked how could it allow erickshaws to ply illegally Advocate Sugriv Dubey appearing for social activist Shahnawaz who filed the petition to ban erickshaws had told the bench that due to the erickshaws two major accidents have taken place and two people have died He said 137 cases have been registered against erickshaw drivers for rash driving