Monday, 24 October 2022 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The operation of 19 city buses in Dehradun resumed on Sunday after the Uttarakhand High Court lifted the ban on their operation. The president of the Dehradun Mahanagar City Bus Seva Mahasangh, Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal said that the High Court had banned the operation of 19 buses that operate on the routes of Parade Ground, Clock Tower, Premnagar, Parwal, and Jhajhra on the appeal of one of the office bearers of another city bus union. He said that the Transport department had canceled the permits of 35 city buses at the directions of the High Court last month. These buses operate on the route from Premnagar-Ballupur-Balliwala-ISBT-Jogiwala to Raipur-Parade Ground-Clock Tower-Prem Nagar.
Dandriyal said that his union filed a petition in the court stating that the regional transport authority (RTA) issued the permits for these routes in 2008 going against the rules. He said that RTA went beyond its authority to issue permits to the buses for these new routes when only the State government has the right to determine new routes for buses. He said that the court took the decision in their favor in the hearing and directed the Transport department to cancel these permits. “Due to this, one of the persons associated with those buses filed a petition in the High Court to ban the operation of 19 buses of our unions stating they were being run without a permit.
The court ordered to ban the operation but we appealed against it and the ban was lifted by the court on October 21,” said Dandriyal. He said that checking the validity of permits is RTA’s responsibility and the court does not usually intervene in such cases. “We presented our side in the court and the ban was lifted in view of the larger public interest in public transport, especially during festival season. The buses will continue to operate on the same routes,” said Dandriyal.
