Consider limiting odd-even formula for a week: HC tells Delhi government

“What is the need to run odd-even scheme after a week?” the court asked.

Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the AAP government to explain why the odd-even trial should last more than a week.

Hearing a bunch of public interest writ petitions, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice G. Rohini observed that a great inconvenience was being caused to the commuters due to inadequate public transport infrastructure.

The Delhi government, however, stated that there is a reverse trend in pollution levels in past one week.

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“We have significantly increased the frequency of the Delhi metro and we have also worked to increase the efficiency of the buses plying on the roads of the national capital”, he added while pointing out that the city has become congestion free and there is a drop in pollution.

The court asked the government why the policy can’t end in a week. “You will have to admit that you don’t have enough public transport to ferry the public”, the court said criticising the city’s transport system. In the High Court today, they argued anew to be exempted from the new traffic rules for the capital that ban private cars on alternate days -a scheme dubbed “odd-even” because cars with license plates ending in odd numbers are allowed on the road on odd-numbered dates, and those with even-numbered license plates on the other days. “The scheme is to save children from Delhi’s toxic air”, the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi said.

Over 1.5 lakh cars were added to the city’s roads this financial year along with 3.5 lakh bikes and scooters, taking the number of total registered vehicles whopping 88.27 lakh, as per Delhi Statistical Hand Book 2015 released by the city government.

The bench also questioned the exemption granted to senior citizens and the car-pooling method, contending the mechanism cannot be termed safe and could be misused in the longer run.

“We have to take into consideration the future of the next generation”. We also have to move a step. “Courts have been functioning well in the past few days”, Mehra said.