‘Transport dept fails to buy disabled-friendly buses’

When a batch of pleas, including one pending since 2005, came up before a division bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice R Hemalatha on Tuesday, it posed the plea for further hearing after four weeks.

The amicus curiae in the case, advocate T Mohan, submitted that several court orders, especially the one by the first bench that prevented the Transport Corporations from purchasing new buses that are not disabled-friendly, were not being complied with.

He pointed out that during the meetings held for complying with the High Court order, the Transport Secretary always offered assurances that disabled-friendly buses would be part of the new buses that were to be purchased. But hundreds of buses continue to be bought without meeting the condition, he said, suggesting the summoning of the Transport Secretary to offer an explaination.

However, even as she conceded that the orders were not followed in letter and spirit, department counsel Rita Chandrasekar assured the court that efforts were on to advise the government to make sure that of the 50 buses, at least 10 should be disabled-friendly.

Another petitioner, L Muruganantham, who had filed a plea to make public buildings disabled-friendly, pointed out that disabled people were never a factor when even new buildings and railway stations were built. He also sought hearing cases moved by disabled people through video conferencing and not post them for physical hearing, as the petitioners in such cases were mostly those with disabilities.