In a bid to regulate traffic on the roads of Delhi, the Delhi High Court has suggested the imposition of a congestion fee on private cars entering certain parts of the city. The HC’s directions came in response to a PIL, filed by NGOs ‘Manushi’ and ‘Initiative for Transportation and Development Programmes’, opposing the cap on cycle-rikshaw licences in Delhi. While reversing the decision to put a cap on rikshaw licences, the court said that road space should not be monopolized by one mode of transport (private cars), given that a major part of the city’s population depended on public transport.

An HC bench created a task force to look into road congestion and pollution levels in the city, and to suggest measures to reduce it. Significant among the points mentioned in the charter of the task force are – review of traffic flow, registration of vehicles and restrictions of vehicular movement. Justice S Ravindra Bhat noted that it was sometimes essential to pursue unorthodox and even unpopular policies for the betterment of the planet.