'World Is Theirs Too': Madras High Court Issues Directions To Make Public Transport Disabled Friendly

"It is made clear that the permission to purchase the high floor buses is granted by this order only as an exception and all endeavour should be made to purchase only low floor buses in the ensuing years, in respect of the fleet which are to be run within the cities and its suburbs; the court observed."

The bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the directions in a public interest litigation filed by Vaishnavi Jayakumar, challenging the tender floated by the Road Transport Department for procuring 1107 High Floor buses.

Vaishnavi Jayakumar contended that the tender was against the directions of the Supreme Court in Rajive Rathuri vs. Union of India wherein it was held that all government buses should be disabled-friendly and in accordance with the Harmonised Guidelines and Standards for Universal Accessibility in India, 2021. The court was also informed about an earlier order wherein the High Court had held that a total number of 10% of buses should be disabled-friendly.

Though the State and the Transport department agreed that there should be accessibility, it was submitted that there were practical difficulties such as poor road conditions, inundation during the rainy season, higher costs, lack of competition in procurement, etc.

The court, after hearing arguments, actively took on the exercise of directing one low-floor bus to be driven in some routes to understand the road conditions and was convinced that though there were some difficulties, plying of low-floor buses was very much feasible.

However, Senior Counsel PS Raman, appearing for the transport department, and Additional Advocate General J Ravindran representing the State informed the court that a direction to procure only low-floor buses would cause financial constraints and would make it impracticable for the State. They submitted that the present attempt by the State to procure 342 low-floor buses must be encouraged and further assured the court that the state would take all endeavors to make transport disabled-friendly.

The court agreed with this submission in part and directed that the current tender for 1107 high-floor buses be modified and instead, 950 high-floor buses and 157 low-floor buses be procured by the department.

The court also directed that the procurement of already-agreed 342 low-floor buses be processed expeditiously so that they are in place along with the high-floor buses. The court also directed the transport corporation in the cities to form a committee with officials from the Transport Department, Institute of Road Transport, Metropolitan Transport Corporation and representatives from the differently abled organizations to decide upon the routes and timing for the low-floor buses.

In metropolitan cities like Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai etc, the court suggested that mobile applications be developed to indicate the real-time movement of the buses for the differently abled persons to plan accordingly.

"In respect of each metropolitan city of Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai etc. mobile applications shall also be developed which, in real time, should indicate the movement of these low floor buses for the differently-abled persons to come to the bus stop and board the buses by properly planning their time"

The court also directed the Municipal Corporations to strive to improve the quality of the roads, their maneuvering capacity and the laying of speed breakers to enable the smooth running of the low-floor buses.

Apart from scientifically designing, reconstructing, and repairing buses, the court also directed that the drivers and the conductors be given special training to be patient and assist the differently-abled persons to board and alight the buses.

"Special training should be imparted to the drivers and conductors of these low floor buses, firstly to be patient enough to stop the bus and assist the persons who are differently-abled/wheel chair bound commuters to get in and alight from the buses from their appropriate destinations"

The court also directed that the orders be made available to the automobile manufacturers to make them aware of the increased demand for low-floor buses. The court noted that the same would ensure more players in the field which would increase the supply of buses.

Case Title: Vaishnavi Jayakumar v The State of Tamil Nadu and others

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 138