Leyland moves SC over bus order

Commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court's order that restrained registration of old model of buses with high floors in the national capital.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, while issuing notice to the Centre asking it to file its reply, tagged the matter with other similar petitions filed by the Federation of Delhi Bus Operators and others. Ashok Leyland's counsel Sandeep Narain sought a direction to quash the judgment, saying the High Court had passed the order without hearing the bus manufacturers' arguments.

While arguing that bus manufacturers needed sufficient lead time to change and get the bus design approved, he said the abrupt refusal to register buses already manufactured and sold in Delhi had caused undue confusion and chaos.

Alleging that these directions were not workable, the bus manufacturer said it had caused "undue panic, chaos and confusion among the bus operators and may result in law and order problems."

"The manufacturers are equally confused because they cannot change the bus designs without amendments in statute," the petition stated.

According to the company, the order was contrary to the existing Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which provided specifications of bus designs and their technical approval and certification by specialised and technically equipped government-run institutions.

Ashok Leyland further said the high court had totally ignored a notification dated September 16, 2005, issued by the ministry of road transport prescribing modern bus designs in conformity with international standards and the same was in the process of being implemented.

To avoid accidents, the high court had, on March 26, restrained the Delhi government from purchasing any new high floor buses.