PIL against tender for new buses with more floor height

The high court on Monday ordered notice to the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the state government and the Union government in a PIL challenging the floor height of the bus prescribed in the tender notification, which is inaccessible to persons with disabilities.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale adjourned the hearing by four weeks, granting time to the parties to respond.

The petition is filed by Sunil Kumar Jain, a resident of Bengaluru.

The petition has challenged the October 28, 2022, tender notice issued by the BMTC to the extent that it prescribes the height of the bus chassis to be 1,000 mm.

The petition stated that the tender specification does not prescribe the height of the bus such that the buses are accessible to persons with disability and does not prescribe for a boarding device for persons on wheelchairs to enter the buses.

The petitioner said the tender substantially diminishes the ability of disabled persons to commute in the city of Bengaluru. The tender notification also violates the fundamental rights of persons with disabilities under Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, he added.

“The act of procuring 840 buses which are high floored and without wheelchair boarding devices and as a result, accessible to only citizens with physical mobility without considering that persons with physical disability will not be able to access them is manifestly arbitrary. The Impugned Tender, therefore, ought to be set aside on this ground alone,” the petition said.

The petitioner said certain aspects of the tender notification are in violation of the Urban Bus Specification-II, which stipulates that all cities with a population greater than one million will only procure buses with floor height of 400 mm or 650 mm, Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989, and judgment of the apex court.