Now,Tata under HC fire over ‘bad roads’ excuse for breakdown of buses

“You certainly knew these buses were supposed to run in Delhi.”

Pulling up the company for taking refuge behind such a plea,the Bench asked the counsel how the manufacturers could start blaming the roads suddenly,as they always knew that the buses were required to ply on those same roads in Delhi. “Today’s report says you cannot run low-floor buses on bad roads. We suppose you had the knowledge where the buses would run,” the Bench said,seeking responses from the Tata Motors counsel.

The counsel,however,refrained from making any statement and said she will take instructions from the company before taking a stand.

Following a meeting with Tata Motors,the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) had on Tuesday decided not to run low-floor buses on the Capital’s rural stretches,or on roads with big potholes. The decision was taken a day after the Delhi government slapped a penalty of Rs 4 crore on Tata Motors for negligence in the maintenance of buses,especially in light of the fact that six fires or breakdowns were reported from its low-floor buses in the last fortnight.

The court today sought a detailed affidavit from Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland,suppliers of low-floor buses to DTC,on whether they would supply the 3,125 buses required for Delhi by March next year — in time for the Commonwealth Games beginning on October 3,2010.

The directives came after the counsel for the Delhi government expressed the government’s inability to completely phase out Blueline buses before the deadline of March 2010,as the suppliers have revised the time schedule to supply low-floor buses. The lawyer said the government has received only 666 buses so far,of which Tata Motors supplied 418 and the rest came from Ashok Leyland.