Chennai: Madras high court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL challenging ‘Vettri Payanam’ scheme introduced by the TVK govt, providing free bus travel for women and transgender persons in mofussil buses.“You are challenging an announcement made in the state Assembly. You are also a bus operator; then how is this PIL maintainable?”, the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan asked.The petition was moved by N Kalamani, who operates two private buses in the Erode district. “You must challenge the GO passed by the govt for the scheme and not the announcement made in the assembly,” the court said.“You (petitioner) claim to be a bus operator in a particular area, but you are challenging a scheme that is rolled out for the entire state. You cannot do that; you must confine to your route of operation,” the bench said.Pointing out that the GO was issued on Oct 1 and it was implemented the next day, the court suggested the petitioner challenge the GO and dismissed the PIL as withdrawn with liberty to work out a remedy in accordance with law.The petitioner claimed that private bus operators would not only stand to lose women passengers but also men, because families would naturally prefer to travel together. She feared that passengers would not get on her buses since many govt buses run on those routes.
