Govt, DTC urge HC to permit procurement of 500 buses

New Delhi: The Delhi government and DTC on Wednesday urged the Delhi High Court to permit procurement of 500 standard floor buses for the national Capital, saying that these vehicles were primarily meant for rural areas in Delhi's outskirts where roads are poor.

The Aam Aadmi Party-led government and the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) told a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao that the standard floor buses, proposed to be procured, were disabled friendly as they would have hydraulic lifts for easy access to the differently-abled persons.

The proposed procurement was opposed by a differently-abled person, Nipun Malhotra, who moved two PILs challenging the government and DTC's decision to buy 2,000 standard floor buses (SFBs) instead of low floor buses (LFBs) for Delhi.

After hearing arguments of both sides, the high court reserved its decision on the procurement of 500 SFBs.

Malhotra, represented by advocate Jai Dehadrai, contended that SFBs were not disabled friendly as they were mounted on truck chassis and their height prevented differently-abled persons from boarding them.

Dehadrai also argued that as per the Ministry of Urban Development's harmonised guidelines of 2016, LFBs with ramps were required, instead of SFBs with hydraulic lifts.