A public interest litigation has been filed before the Delhi High Court challenging the Odd-Even Scheme, which is slated to be enforced in the National Capital starting November 4, 2019.

Preferred by Advocated Shashwat Bhardwaj, the PIL claims that the scheme is in blatant violation of the fundamental right guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

Relying on media reports, it is the petitioner’s grievance that the Odd-Even Scheme has exempted women from its ambit while refusing any relief to private vehicles running on CNG which were exempted on the last two occasions.

“..It is pertinent to point out here that this is in fact, a blatant violation of the right to equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution of India. It is the submission of the petitioner, that, the State i.e. the sole respondent herein, in implementing the said scheme and enforcing it on the residents of Delhi is denying equality before the law on the ground of sex and therefore the said scheme warrants it to be struck down..”

The petitioner has contended that the reason behind the exemption for women is vague, mischievous and misconceived.

“.. it is apparent that the said odd-even scheme is being enforced only to gain political mileage and no legal opinion was perhaps sought even from the law department of the Respondent before formulating the said scheme..”

The petitioner has asserted that the exemption would defeat the purpose behind the Scheme as every household with a “female family member possessing a valid driving license would be tempted to let his sister/daughter/wife drive”.

The other concern raised by the petitioner is of such working professionals, especially lawyers, who are not stationed in one office throughout the day.

“..not only, members of the legal fraternity but also the litigants would be greatly prejudiced, if the said scheme is enforced… in case, the said odd-even scheme is implemented, the lawyers practicing before the various judicial fora would be left with a loss of livelihood as they would not be able to run from one court to the other as the public transport, in any case, is not sufficient to cater to the public  and therefore, the litigant, as well as the entire judicial process, would suffer. “

The petitioner has, therefore, sought a direction to quash the Delhi Government’s decision to implement the Odd-Even Scheme.

In addition, the petitioner has also prayed for setting up an expert committee to conduct a study on the viability of the Scheme and to come up with an alternative arrangement that does not violate any fundamental right.

The matter came up for hearing before a Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and C Hari Shankar today. Hearing in the case was deferred by the Court till November 1 with a direction to the petitioner to place the entire Odd-Even Scheme of the Delhi Government on record.

BAR & BENCH