The Delhi Government told the Delhi High Court on Thursday that it may soon come up with a legislation to regulate e-rickshaws plying in the city.
Also the Delhi High Court was informed about the Government’s move of impounding all e-rickshaws plying on non-designated roads in violation of the rules.
Justice Manmohan was told that as per the Government’s December 11, 2014, notification, e-rickshaws have been banned from plying or parking on 236 roads in the city. The Government said e-rickshaws which are found running on these roads are impounded as fining them was not a deterrent. It also told the court that it was in the process of framing a legislation to regulate e-rickshaws.
The submission was made in response to the court’s query whether e-rickshaws are permitted to ply or are they still illegal despite the notification. The court asked the Government to place on the record its notification before the next date of hearing on October 12.
According to the Government notification, e-rickshaws have been restricted from plying on 77 roads in New Delhi area. It says e-rickshaws cannot ply on 19 roads and locations in Central Delhi. Apart from Central Delhi, 38 roads in South Delhi and 23 in South-East have been identified where such vehicles are prohibited.
Other roads where there is a ban on the battery-operated vehicles are 12 roads in North Delhi, 15 in north-west, 11 in North-East, 9 in east, 21 in South-West and 9 roads in West Delhi.
The Central Government had also notified the Central Motor Vehicles (Sixteenth Amendment) Rules, 2014, which paves way for plying of ‘special purpose battery operated vehicles’.
The court was hearing Shahnawaz Khan’s contempt plea, filed through advocate Sugriva Dubey, alleging that e-rickshaws are continuing to operate in the national Capital in violation of the court’s September 9, 2014, direction.