HC suggests setting up high power panel to ensure only CNG

Delhi High Court today asked the Centre and city government to explore the possibility of setting up a committee headed by senior officials of to work out a plan to ensure that only CNG cabs run in the national capital region (NCR) to address vehicular pollution problem.
Justice Manmohan suggested setting up of the committee, comprising the Union Cabinet Secretary, Delhi Chief Secretary, and secretaries of transport, petroleum and environment, as the issue of vehicular pollution was not confined to Delhi only and would include its neighbouring cities also.
Central government standing counsel Manish Mohan and Additional standing counsel for Delhi government, Naushad Ahmed Khan, told the court that they would seek instructions from their respective administrations on this issue and would inform it by the next date of hearing on December 15.

The court, meanwhile, directed app-based cab service providers, including Ola and Uber, to give details, including registration numbers, of all the vehicles registered with each of them.
These details are to be given in a sealed cover and shall remain sealed to protect confidentiality of the information, the court said.
It also directed the companies, which have been granted an interim protection from the January 1 ban order of Delhi government, to give details of how they were going to phase out the diesel cabs with them as only CNG cabs would be allowed to run in the national capital.

Delhi government had on January 1 banned the operation of app-based cab services till they complied with the guidelines of Radio Taxi Scheme of 2006, which was amended on December 26 last year.

Uber told the court it has started phasing out diesel cabs and would completely phase them out by March 1, 2016. A similar statement was made by taxi for sure, a subsidiary of Ola.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Association of
Radio Taxis, represented by senior advocate Nidesh Gupta, who contended that the court's order upholding a ban on diesel cabs providing point-to-point service in the national capital was not being uniformly implemented.

The court had on October 14 allowed app-based cab firms to ply diesel-run taxis from point-to-point in the national capital till March 1 next year by when they will have to shift completely to CNG.
It had made clear that for those companies which will not give an undertaking with regard to phasing out of their diesel cabs from capital roads, its July 29 order has to be enforced strictly.
The January 1 order was challenged by Ola before the high court, which on July 29 had passed an interim order upholding Delhi government's decision.