Deposit Rs 5000 in accounts of PSV badge holders in 10 days: High Court to Delhi's Transport Department

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday (May 29) directed the Transport Department of Delhi to clear the balance and deposit sum of Rs 5000 into bank accounts of eligible non-chip PSV badge holders within 10 days.  

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) sought the directions to the Transport Department to provide the onetime financial benefit of Rs 5,000/- to lifetime PSV badge holders. 

Counsel for the petitioner said that Delhi's Chief Minister had announced an onetime relief assistance package of Rs 5,000/- to auto-rickshaw, e-rickshaw, and Gramin Sewa vehicle drivers, as compensation for the loss that they would suffer on account of the lockdown declared by the government due to COVID-19 pandemic. 

The court observed, "Already enough time has been taken by the respondent, Transport Department, to release the assistance package as the scheme was announced in early April 2020 and now, it is already the end of May 2020. There was enough time for the department to have processed all the applications and released the funds to those who were eligible."

Giving the last opportunity to the department, the court asked it to deposit the money within 10 days and disposed of the matter. 

Earlier, the petitioner had insisted that the financial assistance as promised had not been received by PSV badge holders who were facing great hardship being unable to ply their vehicles. 

The council said that repeated representations were made to the Transport department have not elicited any effective response and the department is discriminating between PSV badge holders who have a chip fixed in their badges vis-a-vis PSV badge holders who do not have a chip fixed in their badges. 

After which a notice was issued to the department, which then filed a reply that all the eligible applicants have been identified. 

On an inquiry from the counsel for Transport Department as to how much time will it take to clear the list of the remaining 4825 persons by depositing a sum of Rs 5,000/- into their bank accounts, he insisted that the department may be given a period of 15 days.