HC asks AAP govt to restrain unregistered e-rickshaws on roads

New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Monday directed the AAP government to formulate an insurance policy for e- rickshaws to help mishap victims claim compensation and prohibit plying of any such unregistered vehicle on the roads of the national capital.

The bench said e-rickshaws owners should be asked to go for third-party insurance cover to enable accident victims claim compensation in case of any mishap.

"You (Delhi government) find a solution. As on date, there is no policy under which the victims of the e-rickshaws can claim a compensation," Justice J R Modha said.

He further said that "many of the e-rickshaws are plying without registration and the same should not be allowed".

The court's direction came during the hearing of a contempt plea alleging that most e-rickshaws in the city were operating in violation of law and rules and the authorities were not taking any action against such vehicles.

The counsel for Delhi government told the court that only those e-rickshaws complying with its guidelines were being registered and the rest being impounded.

He said the Transport Department has granted licences to around 4,000 e-rickshaws till date and impounded over 15,000 vehicles playing illegally. Prosecution has been initiated against owners or operators of around 16,000 e-rickshaws which were found plying illegally, it said.

On the other hand, advocate Sugriva Dubey, counsel for the petitioner Shahnawaz Khan, submitted that licences have been granted to only 31 e-rickshaws and added that especially in trans-Yamuna areas, these vehicles were plying in violation of the law.

The court after hearing the arguments of both sides asked the Delhi government to place before it the policy they will be formulating as per the court's suggestion by March 14.

The government had earlier told the court that as per its December 11, 2014 notification, e-rickshaws have been banned from plying or parking on 236 roads in the city.

It had also told the court that it was running out of places to put the impounded e-rickshaws and using bus depots for the purpose.

Khan in his contempt plea has alleged that e-rickshaws continued to operate in the national capital in violation of the court's September 9, 2014 direction holding the plying of e-rickshaws in the national capital as illegal as per the then existing law and the ban on their operation would continue till the Centre framed rules to regulate them.