By IANS,
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Friday suspended the policy and operation of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for registration of cycle rickshaws in in the city.
The court stayed the MCD circular of Feb 14 for licensing of cycle rickshaws after an NGO informed it that the information sought in the application form is irrelevant and objectionable.
A special bench of Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice S. Muralidhar, constituted to monitor the MCD’s pilot project for non-motorised vehicles (NMV) including cycle rickshaws on city roads, said: “The MCD should not process its proposal till the next date of hearing.”
Staying the MCD circular till March 23, the next date of hearing, the bench said: “Don’t implement this policy until you bring some changes in it.”
The court also directed the MCD to reconsider its decision of charging the annual fee of Rs.25 for renewal of the license for cycle rickshaws.
Advocate Indira Nair, appearing for petitioner NGO ‘Manushi’, Friday said: “As per the policy, application forms are available for Rs.2 and registration charge would be Rs.100 and Rs.25 would be charged annually for renewal of the vehicle.”
Dissatisfied with the criteria established by the MCD for registration of the vehicle and issuance of license to the rickshaw puller, Nair Friday said that some information sought by the MCD was irrelevant and objectionable.
She contended: “The application form for registration seeks whether the applicant is suffering from tuberculosis (TB) and for how many years he has been staying in the city.”
The court had earlier asked the MCD to submit a comprehensive plan for registration of all existing 600,000 cycle rickshaws in the city as no fresh license has been issued since 2007.