Chennai: Pointing out that in the event of the revision of the minimum fare, it would result in very marginal difference, the state government informed the Madras high court that it has decided not to increase the auto fare for the time-being.
Satyabrata Sahoo, the transport commissioner, stated this in his affidavit filed before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, which posted to April 11, further hearing of the case.
Originally, Coimbatore Consumer Care filed a PIL to direct the authorities to fix a revised fare for contract carriage auto-rickshaws operating in Coimbatore district.
The bench had on July 30, 2014, issued interim directions. Following this, the transport authorities had revised the fares for auto rickshaws operating in Coimbatore as well as in other districts on par with rates already notified for Chennai Metropolitan Area. Thereafter, the bench had on October 30, 2014, while disposing of the PIL had issued 8 directions regarding the revision of fare for auto rickshaws plying in all regions of Tamil Nadu.
In his affidavit, Styabrata submitted that in obedience to the directions, 7 of 8 directions, given by this court were accepted, implemented and complied with despite of some practical difficulties. Several factors were required to be taken into account for the purpose of revision of Auto rickshaws fare.
Generally, the factors which contribute to this were fuel price, driver salary, maintenance, cost, replacement of types, cost of vehicle, depreciation and major repairs. In order to ascertain these factors it was necessary that the stakeholders be consulted and their views taken before fares were revised.
Considering all these facts, it may not be appropriate to revise the fares only on the basis of revision of fuel cost. All the stake holders should be put on notice before any fare revision was proposed.
In the event of the revision of the minimum fare, it would result only in very marginal difference. Therefore, the government, after very extensive consultation and examining all the factors and taking into account every detail, has taken a decision not to increase the auto fare for the time-being.
The authorities will consider to examine the issue again after 6 months in case of any material change in the parameters for fixing the fare, he added.
