13,000 e-rickshaws impounded by Delhi government till August: HC told

The Delhi government on Thursday told the high court here that it has impounded above 13,000 e-rickshaws till August for running on city roads despite a ban.

Justice Manmohan was also informed that as most of the e-rickshaws were not meeting with the licensing norms, around 30 vehicles have been given licenses.

Appearing for the Delhi government, advocate Anuj Aggarwal told the court that the government has been taking action against e-rickshaws plying without licenses and impounding the vehicles.

However, Aggarwal said the state government has been facing difficulty in storing the large number of impounded e-rickshaws due to space constrain.

"We have impounded 13,576 e-rickshaws from January till August, but now we are facing difficulty in storing them. We have kept them in different bus terminals, but still there is space constrain," the advocate told the court on its query of what steps government has taken on the issue.

The government also told the court that it has released 6,011 e-rickshaws.

The court now asked the government to file its licensing norms for e-rickshaws and posted the matter for October 12.

The court was hearing a contempt plea filed by social activist Shahnawaz, who alleged that e-rickshaws were continuing to operate in the national capital in violation of the court's September 9, 2014 direction.

He filed the plea through advocate Sugriva Dubey.