Private bus owner challenges free travel scheme for women in Madras High Court

Court Challenge

A private bus owner from Erode named Kalamani has filed a case in the Madras High Court to challenge the Vetri Payanam free travel scheme for women in government buses.

Scheme Details

Chief Minister Vijay launched the scheme on October 2, expanding the earlier Vidiyal Payanam program implemented during the previous DMK rule. The initiative allows women to travel for free across more than 12,600 government buses statewide. According to Polimer News, women can travel without paying fares from Chennai to Kanniyakumari by changing buses, though the scheme does not apply to long-distance luxury, air-conditioned, and sleeper buses run by the State Express Transport Corporation.

Petition Claims

The petition states that the free travel scheme causes heavy losses for private bus owners and forces them to quit their businesses. It also claims that not collecting fares from female passengers goes against the right to equality under the constitution. The private bus owners association earlier asked the government to provide compensation to private buses as well, pointing out that the state has taken on a yearly cost of 6,000 crore rupees for scheme beneficiaries. However, the government did not accept this demand. The petition further states that no official government order has been issued yet for the scheme, which was rolled out based on an announcement made by the Chief Minister in the legislative assembly. The petitioner has asked the court to declare the scheme against the law and to put an interim stop to it until the case ends. The case is listed for hearing tomorrow before a bench consisting of Chief Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arulmurugan.

Context

Public transport policy and government welfare schemes often face legal scrutiny from private transport operators concerned about market competition and financial losses. Courts frequently examine the balance between public welfare initiatives and the commercial viability of private businesses in the transport sector.