High Court rejects BRT review plea

The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected a plea seeking a review of its order that dismissed an earlier petition for scrapping the Bus Rapid Transit corridor on arterial roads of the capital city.

A division bench of justices dismissed the review petition, ruling that the petitioner did not raise the issue of violation of the Delhi Master Plan 2021 while making the BRT corridor  main issue of the writ petition.

The order came on the review petition of B B Sharan, president of NGO Nyaya Bhoomi who sought scrapping of the 5.8 km BRT stretch between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand.

The NGO claimed that “Master Plan Delhi 2021 is a statutory plan and has the force of law. As per the Master Plan, the BRT cannot exist on a road less than 45 metres in width”.

It said, “The Master Plan Delhi mandates maximum use and utilisation of the road but in this BRT project, 45 percent of the road space is under-utilised.”

Appearing for the Delhi government, a senior advocate had said the petitioner in the main plea did not raise this issue of violation of the Master Plan while making the BRT corridor the main issue and the court should reject this review plea.

The High Court on October 18 dismissed the NGO’s plea for permission for cars to use the BRT corridor here. The bench then had observed that the implementation of BRT corridors in the city of Delhi was not an ‘irrational decision’.

Sharan had alleged that the corridor was causing inconvenience to the public. The court on May 12 had allowed other vehicles on the BRT as part of a feasibility study undertaken by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI). The CRRI in its report said commuters would benefit if the BRT was scrapped.