Chandigarh
18 May 2018
DIVYA AZAD
The Court of Civil Judge Senior Division, Sh. Barjinder Pal Singh, today issued urgent Dasti notice for 28.05.2018 to Chandigarh Administration, Finance Secretary, UT, Deputy Commissioner, Chandigarh, Administrator, UT Chandigarh, Secretary, Transport UT Chandigarh and Chandigarh Transport Undertaking, in a PIL filed by Advocate Pankaj Chandgothia and his wife Sangeeta Chandgothia u/s 91 of C.P.C. for declaration and permanent mandatory injunction directing all the defendants to immediately erect all 350 designated Bus Shelters in the Union Territory of Chandigarh and to ensure within the Bus Shelter, proper sitting facility, display of timetable etc.
Earlier, the Pankaj & Sangeeta Chandgothia filed a case saying the plaintiffs are socially conscious citizens who are aware of the difficulties which the commuting public using Public Transport face. A good bus shelter is an important ingredient of a city’s mass transit system. An ideal shelter is one that allows visibility and easy access to the Bus, is comfortable and convenient, provides clear information and is safe.
The plaintiffs have been reading various newspaper reports over the past few months highlighting the state of Bus Shelters in the UT or rather their non-existence.
The petitioners alleged that, under the garb and excuse of modernisation, the defendants are delaying the design approvals and actual construction of Bus Shelters, on account of extraneous factors. The defendants do not realise the difficulties of the common man who has to bear the brunt of weather conditions and lie exposed to all sorts of inconveniences and illnesses and health hazards, in the absence of Bus Shelters. The defendants do not understand the difficulties of the commuting public because they themselves do not need to use the public transport system, as they are provided with expensive perks and frills in the form of chauffer-driven luxury cars. It is ironical that their salaries and perks are paid out of public money.
