Chennai: The Madras High Court today dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to the Tamilnadu government to ensure safety measures as per rules in all state-run buses and to provide adequate facilities at bus terminals.
The division bench, comprising Justices S Manikumar and Subromonium Prasad, which dismissed a petition, also slapped a cost of of Rs 10,000 on the petitioner, to be paid to the Juvenile Justice Fund.
The court said it is frivolous petition filed only for publicity and not a Public Interest Litigation as no public interest is involved.
Petitioner Jawahar Shanmugam submitted that the conditions of state-run transport corporation buses was very poor, compared to those run by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Karnataka and Kerala Commuters travelling to these states also preferred these buses and did not mind paying more for it, he said.
Alleging that non-maintenance of these buses has led to a rise in the number of accidents, he said Transport Corporations would have to pay huge amount as compensation to victims, which could turn out to be a major expense.
He also submitted that he had already made a representation to the authorities on 27 November 2017 on the matter and he had moved the court as he had not received any reply.