By IANS,
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Monday sought response from the city government on a plea seeking review of the order passed by it, dismissing an earlier plea that sought the scrapping of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor here.
Filing the review petition, NGO Nyaya Bhoomi sought scrapping of 5.8-km BRT stretch between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand. The petition claimed that the stretch was chosen against the norms of Master Plan Delhi 2021.
A division bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Manmohan Singh, hearing the plea, said: “The city government counsel has to seek instruction from the Transport Department in respect of the width of the road from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand by November 21.”
The High Court had, Oct 18, dismissed the NGO plea seeking permission for cars to use a road lane reserved for buses on the BRT corridor here.
Dismissing the plea, the bench had said that the implementation of BRT corridors in the city of Delhi was not an “irrational decision”.
NGO Nyaya Bhoomi’s president B.B. Sharan had alleged that the corridor was causing inconvenience to the public.
The review plea said that the judgment had ignored the norms in the Master Plan Delhi 2021 that specifically lays down that BRT cannot be allowed in a road which was less than 45 metres in width.
The NGO in the petition said: “Master Plan Delhi 2021 is a statutory plan and has the force of law. As per the master plan, the BRT cannot exist on a road less than 45 metres in width.”
“Under the master plan of Delhi 2012, BRT is conceived on the road segment where the total width of road is 45 metres and above. However, this court has inadvertently computed 45 metre equal to 100 feet, whereas 45 metres comes to about 150 feet.”
It further said: “The Master Plan Delhi mandates maximum use and utilisation of the road but in this BRT project, 45 percent of the road space is under-utilised.”
The court May 12 had allowed other vehicles on the BRT as part of a feasibility study undertaken by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI).
The CRRI in its report said commuters would benefit with the scrapping of the BRT.