Unfit?: Court sends notices on plea by rickshaw owners

The bench heard a petition filed by the All Karachi CNG Six Seaters Welfare Association.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued on Tuesday notices to the transport secretary, the DIG city traffic police and others on a petition challenging the crackdown against CNG-fitted rickshaws with a capacity to carry six passengers.

Headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, the bench was hearing a petition filed by the All Karachi CNG Six Seaters Welfare Association, which had gone to the court against the crackdown launched by the traffic police against the six-seater rickshaws plying the city.

Their lawyer, Javed Chattari, submitted that the transport secretary declared the six-seater rickshaws as reckless on March 5 on the directions of the DIG Traffic police. The traffic police started a crackdown against these vehicles by calling them '12-seater rickshaws' even though no such vehicle exists in the entire metropolis, he added. They have arrested the drivers and detained more than 2,000 rickshaws. They even issued tickets worth Rs2,000 to each driver.

The lawyer contended that the ruling party in Sindh has done nothing to resolve the public transport problem. Firstly, they stopped the operation of the CNG buses and now they are coming after the CNG rickshaws, he claimed.

According to Chattari, the CNG rickshaws have been registered in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa. He pleaded the court order the police authorities to immediately stop the crackdown against the petitioners' vehicles in the city.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2014.