Delhi HC issues notice to DTC and Delhi Government over ticketing practices

- January 17, 2019

The Delhi High Court has issued notice to Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi Government over ticketing practices in the DTC and Cluster buses where the conductors are in the habit of issuing tickets while sitting at their designated seats. The honourable court has sought the stand of the DTC and the Transport department while considering a Public Interest Litigation filed through Pravasi Legal Cell, a Delhi based NGO, seeking direction to ensure the safety and comfort of the passengers.

The practice in the DTC and cluster buses ferrying passengers in Delhi is such that the conductors issue tickets sitting at the conductor’s seat instead of moving from the front to the rear side of the bus and issuing tickets to passengers boarding bus from every bus stop. Such a practice is unethical and also causes large scale inconvenience to the passengers.

Neither DTC nor the Transport department has bothered to address the problems faced by children, pregnant women or women with babies, physically disabled persons, or senior citizens travelling in the bus. All of them are expected to wade through the crowd in the bus to the conductor’s seat and return back to their seats.

It is also common that the ticket checking inspectors impose fine upon the passengers for not buying the tickets without verifying the actual circumstances. Such instances mostly occur with passengers who come from other states and expect the conductors to come to them issuing tickets as practiced in other state buses.

Honourable Mr. Justice Kameswar Rao, while considering the PIL, observed that this is a peculiar practice in Delhi and the government should frame policies to change this to ensure the safety and comfort of the passengers.

The petitioner, Mr. Santhosh Kumar, had sent repeated complaints to DTC and the Government in the past without any result. Finally he approached Pravasi Legal Cell, a Delhi based NGO providing free legal aid, and got the PIL filed before the Delhi High Court through Advocate Jose Abraham, the NGO’s president.