Delhi:
The Delhi High Court today said blueline buses may ply even after January 31, the deadline set by the city government for their phase-out from the roads here, if they possess valid licenses.
The blueline buses, which have valid licenses to ply beyond January 31, cannot be asked to go off from the roads, a division bench headed by Justice A K Sikri said.
The bench, which had reserved its judgement on the city government's plea not to permit the blueline buses to come back on the roads, however, made it clear to the operators that the order allowing the vehicles to ply would be subject to its verdict on the petitionTwo bus operators had moved the HC seeking a stay on Delhi government's notification asking them (operators) not to ply buses on the roads after January 31.
The notification was to come into effect irrespective of the validity period of the license of blueline buses, the operators' petition said.
Earlier, the court had reserved its order on Delhi government's plea not to permit the blueline buses to return to the roads.
Najmi Waziri, counsel for the city government, had submitted that public safety was the "paramount objective" and the government now has enough number of DTC buses to meet the requirement. The lawyer claimed introduction of 2000 low-floor buses last year has given a big relief to the public and phase-out of blueline buses has drastically reduced the number of road accidents.
Seeking the court not to allow the bus operators' plea to run their buses on the roads till the government implements cluster system, he said the government has more than 6,500 buses in its fleet to meet the requirement of public transport and 4000 more would be added in a phased manner. On the contrary, the operators had argued that till the implementation of cluster system, the blueline buses be allowed to ply on the roads.
Taking suo motu cognizance over repeated road accidents involving blueline buses in October 2007, the High court had directed the city government to phase out the blueline buses and replace them with low-floor buses.