Mumbai, Sept 19: In a major relief to taxi owners, Mumbai High Court today extended till January 31 next the deadline for conversion of diesel engines to CNG mode but restrained cabbies from plying in the city as they contributed to the pollution. The order was delivered by Justices Ajit Shah and Ranjana Desai on a petition filed by Mumbai taxi Chalak Malak Sena and Bombay Taximen's Union.
The petitioners urged for a direction to the authorities to temporarily suspend their licences but not cancel them unless the diesel taxis were converted into CNG-run engines.

It was submitted there were 48,000 taxis in Mumbai and 15,000 of them were 137-diesel ones. Of these, 10,000 had already converted into CNG-run engines. Only 5,000 diesel taxis remained to be converted to get rid of pollution hazard.
Being aggrieved, the Taximen's Unions filed an appeal in high court which allowed the vehicles to ply till April 30, 2002, and extended the period of conversion into CNG-run engines till may end.
As the deadline expired last month, the cab owners urged the high court for a direction to the authorities not to cancel their registration but only suspend it until they converted the taxis into CNG-run vehicles.

Bureau Report