BackGovernment seeks transfer of PILs against quadricycles to Supreme Court
The move comes as a boost for Bajaj Auto Ltd that has not been able to launch the RE60, India’s first quadricycle
Premium(Pradeep Gaur/Mint )
Mumbai: The central government has moved a transfer petition in the Supreme Court seeking the shift of all public interest litigations in various high courts against the launch of the so-called quadricycles to the apex court.
Following the request, the Supreme Court on 27 February passed an order and issued a notice on the transfer petition and stayed all such writ petitions until further orders. A copy of the order has been reviewed by Mint. The case will be heard on 10 March.
The move comes as a boost for Bajaj Auto Ltd that has not been able to launch the RE60, India’s first quadricycle, due to the court cases. Bajaj Auto has been plugging the contraption as an alternative to the auto rickshaw that comes with four wheels instead of three.
The company declined to comment on the development.
With the orders of the various high courts being stayed, the government is now free to resume certification and testing of quadricycles. The eventual fate of the low speed, lightweight four-wheeler’s commercial launch, however, will depend on the outcome of the hearing in the Supreme Court on 10 March.
Since the cases are filed in various states, Bajaj is waiting for the federal law ministry to step in and get them quashed in the Supreme Court, Rajiv Bajaj, managing director at Bajaj Auto, said in a January interview. “There’s no way for us to know when it will be done," he said.
According to the original plan, Bajaj Auto was to launch the vehicle in October last year. However, lawsuits have questioned the safety of these vehicles and highlighted their potential to affect the livelihood of autorickshaw drivers.
Bajaj has invested about ₹ 550 crore to develop the quadricycle. It has created capacity to produce 5,000 vehicles a month at its Aurangabad plant in Maharashtra.
With an engine displacement of 216cc and a kerb weight of 450kg, the RE60 can seat four passengers. The company claims the vehicle can run 35km on a litre of fuel and reach a top speed of 70km per hour.
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