HC grants two months to TN dept to revise auto fares

The Madras High Court today granted two months time for the state transport department to carry out revision of auto fares based on petrol prices every three months, making it clear that it will be the last opportunity for the department.
As directed, Transport Commissioner Sathyabrata Sahoo appeared before the First Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M.Sathyanarayanan before which a contempt petition filed by Coimbatore-based Consumer Voice Secretary Logu and the review petition filed by the state government came up.
After granting a last opportunity to the government in implementing the guidelines on fixation of auto fares, the bench said in its order that the review petition would be examined only after implementing its order dated April 30.

The bench then posted the matter to Decemeber 21.
The court had on September one issued notice to Sahoo on a contempt petition for not implementing its guidelines issued in April.
The contempt plea sought to punish officials for failure to implement the court's eight-point guidelines, including one on periodic review of fares based on variation in fuel prices.