Odd-even: HC refuses to entertain plea against exemption to women

Delhi High Court on Friday rejected a plea against exemptions granted to women and two-wheelers in the odd-even car rationing scheme, scheduled to resume from April 15, terming it “premature”.

A Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath observed that the plea was not for public interest but for “publicity interest only”.

“This writ petition is premature. We cannot say this is for public interest. It is for publicity interest only,” the bench said, adding, “the petition is premature so we are not inclined to entertain it at this stage.” During the hearing, the counsel appearing for petitioner Karuna Chhatwal referred to media reports and said the Delhi Government has not considered the suggestions on not exempting two-wheelers and women in the odd-even scheme.

“These are all newspapers reports. May be they (Delhi government) are considering it,” the Bench said.

When the counsel urged that the petition be heard, the bench observed, “Sorry, not at this stage. We are only saying that this writ petition is premature. If this was really a public interest litigation, we would not have done this.” 

Delhi resident Chhatwal has approached the high court contending that the AAP government, in the second phase of the scheme, has exempted women and two wheelers which they should not have done. She submitted that two-wheelers emit pollutants and account for almost 60 per cent of air pollution while cars constitute a part of the remaining air pollution. She said the scheme was introduced to control air pollution and exempting women drivers will defeat the very objective.