A PIL has been filed in the Delhi High Court by a final year Law student seeking directions to the Government to allow operation of public transport in the National Capital Territory of Delhi in strict compliance with social distancing and disinfection/ sanitization norms.
The petition is filed by Mr. Shreesh Chadha, a final year law student to ensure that the relaxation provided by the central government allowing offices to open at someplace up to 33% capacity does not adversely affect that portion of the working population of NCT Delhi that does not own personal vehicles.
The petitioner submits that a substantial amount of the population relies on public transport for commuting to their workplace.
It has been argued in the petition that the government has caused an unequal and disproportionate effect on people availing public transport services to commute to their workplaces and is a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
The petition further states that the guidelines fail to provide equal opportunity to all employees/ workers who are now obligated to resume their employment.
“The lack of public transport has resulted in the absence of the workers from their places of employment which are now operating. This may result in adverse consequences to those workers by way of deduction of wages or in extreme cases being laid off,” said the petition.
-India Legal Bureau