After 11-year-old’s plea, high court says state buses must ply in Vasai
The Bombay high court on Friday restrained the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) from discontinuing services on 21 routes within the limits of Vasai-virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC).
The MSRTC had decided to discontinue the services from April 1 this year, against which, Sharian Dabre, 11, a Class 7 student , along with Dominica Dabre, the principal of a Mumbai-based school, filed a PIL on March 17, complaining that discontinuing services will cause immense hardship especially to students and teachers.
MSRTC responded to their PIL, stating that between October 2012 and April 2014, the corporation has selectively taken over a profitable 52 of the total 80 bus routes within the corporation limits and engaged a private operator to ply buses on those routes.
But despite repeated requests by the MSRTC, the municipal corporation was not willing to take over the remaining routes because those were not so financially lucrative.
The MSRTC in January 2017, issued a notice that it will discontinue its services on 21 routes from April 1. It is the duty of the municipal corporation to provide services to the local residents, MSRTC’S lawyer told the court.
The court, however, restrained it from discontinuing the services from Saturday saying it will cause hardship and inconvenience to the people residing on the routes.
The court also directed the state to intervene in the matter and “make the municipal corpo ration realise its obligations towards local residents, or else the court will have to pass appropriate orders, including ordering the appointment of an administrator over the munici pal corporation.”
The court also restrained the VVMC from plying buses beyond the permissible limits after the MSRTC lawyer pointed out that the municipal corpora tion-engaged private operator was plying buses to far-off pla ces like Thane and Mulund, but did not want to ply on the 21 non profitable routes.