Delhi-UP bus row to continue, HC disposes of petition

New Delhi, Dec 18 (UNI) Expressing anguish over the stalemate in Delhi-Uttar Pradesh bus row, the Delhi High Court today disposed of a petition saying that ''the governments of both the states are not sensitive to the problems of the commuters in the National Capital Region.'' A bench of Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Hima Kohli had summoned the Chief Secretaries of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to arrive at an amicable solution keeping the plights of the people in their minds.

Delhi Chief Secretary R Narayanswami appealed the court to order for maintaining of status quo as of November 7 and sought direction to run buses with a rider to resolve the crisis in three months.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary N C Vajpayee submitted that the UP State Road Tranasport Corporation should be allowed to run point-to-point services from the three bus stands--Bus Adda, Anand Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan-- and three railway stations--New Delhi, Old Delhi and Nizamuddin.

But the Delhi government did not agree to the submission saying that it might create problem for the state as the other states would also demand the same treatment.

The Court asked both the top bureaucrats to sit and resolve the crisis in his chamber.

When both the governments were adament on their points, the court disposed of the matter as the main prayers of the petition had been granted.

The UP Government through Counsel Garima Prasad had filed a petition in third week of November, 2006 in the High Court seeking direction to the Delhi Government to allow its buses to enter the Capital to fill Compressed Natural Gas(CNG) fuel.

The petition filed by Regional Manager of the UP Road Transport Corporation at Noida had alleged that the Delhi government did not allow its fleet of CNG buses to come to Delhi to fill their tanks with gas.

The Delhi Government did not allow the UP Government to ply its newly-acquired fleet of CNG buses on local routes between the Capital and NOIDA and Greater Noida on November 13.

Both the state governments are at loggerheads for the past one-and-a-half months after the UP Government started impounding Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses in its territory, demanding permits.

Acting on the direction of the Supreme Court in the petition of MC Mehta vs UOI, the DTC had been operating local buses in NOIDA, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida of UP for the past several decades for the conveniece of the public.

UNI PAT PA VV1834