Bombay HC upholds edu criteria for seeking auto permits

Autorickshaw drivers seeking new permits will need to have a minimum educational qualification of Class 10 if they wish to be given the first preference in allotment of permits.

The Bombay high court, while dismissing a plea filed by a 60-year-old, uneducated rickshaw driver, upheld the state government’s decision.

A division bench of justice AM Khanwilkar and justice SS Shinde said, “The instructions issued favour an elimination process apart from giving preference to better educated persons in allotting permits. How can such process be termed unreasonable?”
The bench made this observation while hearing the plea of Kolhapur resident Chandrakant Otari, who challenged the decisions taken in the joint meeting between the chief minister and the office-bearers of rickshaw unions from Thane and Mumbai.

At the meeting held on October 9, 2011, it was decided that the new permits will be allocated in three stages, in the first of which priority will be given to licence-holders who have passed Class 10. In the second stage, preference will be given to licence holders who have cleared Class 8, while the remaining permits will be allocated to other eligible candidates.

 While asserting that the resolution of the joint meeting could apply only to members of rickshaw unions from Thane and Mumbai, and not to Kolhapur, the petitioner said the decision is an unreasonable restriction. Moreover, the restriction itself is not backed by any provisions of the Act or rule.

But the bench noted, “Even if we accede to the argument that the resolution is not binding on the rickshaw operators in Kolhapur, we fail to understand as to how the criteria evolved in the said meeting can be said to be unreasonable.”