Mr. Bumble in
Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist happened to mention that “Law is an ass”. There
have been several examples where Mr. Bumble’s assertion was found to be true. A
recent happening in our country proved once again how true the statement was.
The Delhi High
court had banned plying of e-rickshaws in Delhi and has since issued orders of
continuance of the ban. The ban was imposed on account of a petition filed
against their plying as, it was contended, that they are hazardous for the
general public having met with two accidents and these were not covered by the
Motor Vehicles laws currently in force. Both the contentions seem to be
untenable as motorised automobiles of various makes have met with accidents in
Delhi, traffic in the city being what it is. These, too, should be treated as hazardous but these have
not been banned because their running on city roads is covered by the extant
law. If the e-rickshaws are not covered by these laws the vehicles could be
allowed to ply for a short term within which the executive could be directed to
bring them within the ambit of the laws only for the reason that these are beneficial. But no, the ban was extended.
One did not know
that a large number of such rickshaws were plying in Delhi. No wonder, as a
consequence of the continued ban, the livelihood of the rickshaw pliers is
affected. This apart, Delhi today is the most polluted city in the world,
having beaten Beijing in the recent past. The e-rickshaws running on battery
would have mitigated the air-pollution to some extent. True, Delhi now has
auto-rickshaws running on CNG but they are not pollution-free. They are not as
green as the e-rickshaws which have zero emission and do not foul up the air. These
rickshaws, therefore, could be beneficial for the city’s air and could come in handy
for the commuters.
Some have
contended that these are not as pollution-free as claimed as they charge
their batteries from outlets that are fed by thermal power plants which are highly
polluting and produce “dirty power”. But, since there is no source of “clean
power” the rickshaw operators would seem to have no other alternative. There is
no gainsaying the fact that these rickshaws help in a limited way in
controlling air pollution in a highly polluted city by cutting out emissions.
As regards the concern expressed in respect of disposal of their batteries,
these are mostly recycled and resold to consumers.
The indefinite
continuance of the ban on e-rickshaws is therefore not in the larger interests
of the people of Delhi. The whole thing seems to have got entangled in the
bureaucratic web of rules and legal provisions and those who invested in
assembling the
There are,
indeed, laws and laws in the country most of which would seem to be “asses”.
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