High court rules against cap on cycle rickshaw licences in Delhi

The Delhi high court on Wednesday ruled that the authorities could not cap the number of licences for cycle rickshaws as it would amount to denial of people's right to earn a livelihood and also weaken the 'invaluable' linkage provided by rickshaws.

The three-judge bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and S Muralidhar said the by-law providing the police, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and other agencies the authority to impound rickshaws was not maintainable. The bench directed the agencies to scrap any provision that was against the law.

However, the court declined to quash zoning restrictions or the ban on use of the mode of transport to arterial roads. The bench held that civic authorities could take such decisions in the larger public interest.

Expressing concern over the manner in which civic authorities and police treat cycle-rickshaw pullers, the court said it would be important for public authorities, especially law enforcement agencies, to display sensitivity when exercising coercive powers.

The bench also took a different view from that of the high court, which had earlier held that plying rickshaws hurt or offended human dignity and that the state needed to work towards elimination of the trade. The bench ruled that the right of an individual to ply cycle-rickshaw or other forms of transport fell within the legitimate exercise of an individual's exercise of his freedom guaranteed under Article 19(1) (g).

The court also found no objective criteria that the MCD relied on to fix the limit of rickshaw licences at 99,000 and noted that no such policy had been framed to limit the number of motorised vehicles.