A bench of the Supreme Court has upheld an order passed by a bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agrawal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee of the Gujarat High Court that rejected an appeal filed by private bus owners to ply their vehicles on city roads during the day hours.
The bus owners had in a petition before the Gujarat High Court, challenged a notification issued by the police commissioner restricting the entry of heavy vehicles in the city between 8 am and 10 pm.
Earlier, a single-judge bench had rejected their plea against the notification, following which they had moved an appeal before the division bench. An April 24, 2024, order of the division bench upheld the single judge order and did not grant any relief to private bus operators. The operators then knocked on the doors of the Apex court which too did not grant any relief to them. This means the movement of private heavy vehicles will continue to be restricted in the city during the day hours.
As per the case details, a petition was filed by Shrinath Travels challenging the Commissioner of Police’s notification barring the entry of heavy vehicles from 8 am to 10 pm in the city to prevent traffic congestion and for the safety of motorists on the roads. The petition had said that the authorities were preventing passenger vehicles and buses from entering the city due to misinterpretation of the police notification. As a result, private bus operators had to drop off passengers on the ring road outside the city, causing great inconvenience to women, children and the elderly and raising concerns over their safety.