"Why are you going on strike always? Unnecessarily harassing the commuters. Even you (autorickshaw drivers) are suffering as you lose one day's livelihood," a division bench of Justices P B Majmudar and R D Dhanuka said.
As per the directions of the Supreme Court, Maharashtra government has to submit a compliance report on implementation of a state notification dated February 17, 2012, by which e-meters were made mandatory for autorickshaws.
Mumbai Auto-rickshawmens' Union challenged the notification in the High Court which refused to entertain it, in view of the larger public interest.
The Union then moved the Supreme Court which too rejected the petition and asked the government to file a compliance report on e-meters in the Bombay High Court.
The government today told the High Court that to date, 1,743 autorickshaws had installed the e-meters.
The notification says e-meters would be installed at the time of registration of new autorickshaws or the renewal of fitness certificate of existing vehicles.
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The state government said that within a year all the autorickshaws in Maharashtra would have electronic meters.
The Union's lawyer said it would not strike on the issue.
The court has directed the government to submit a compliance report on May 8. PTI SP KRK