Hike rent of smart cart to Rs 5,000 from Rs 100, HC directs State govt

A division bench comprising Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice R Suresh Kumar, before whom the plea regards beautification of Marina beach by Fishermen care came up, said the move to charge a mere Rs100 under the present circumstances is unacceptable and hence the rent has to be augmented to a minimum of Rs 5,000.

The direction was based following the submission by additional Advocate General SR Rajagopal on behalf of Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) that as many as 900 such smart carts are being procured at a cost of Rs 27.04 crore and that tenders have been floated to enable procuring the smart carts by the first week of February.

However, when he pointed out that the government has decided to collect Rs100 as monthly rent from the vendors, the bench said given the prevailing situation Rs100 is very less and hence ought to be increased.

Also, regards the submission that the Coast Regulation Zone was yet to respond on the application made by the Corporation regards the proposed footpath along the loop road from the light house to Pattinapakkam, the bench on summoning the CRZ, member secretary to appear before it adjourned the case to January 29.

The smart carts made from fiberglass and steel would cost around Rs1.80 lakh each and the State level project sanctioning committee and Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply for administrative have sanctioned the procurement of 1,500 smart carts. Of them, a couple of hundreds will be used at the Beasant Nagar beach.