The Gauhati High Court has made a ruling that motor-fitted Dipbahan rickshaws are exempt from a notification issued by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) on December 28, 2022, which banned motorised rickshaws in the city.
The decision was made in response to a writ petition (Case No. : WP(C)/1648/2023) filed by the Xado Guwahati Motor Chalita Rickshaw Chalak Union, who were aggrieved by the GMC’s notification.
The court has stated that the ban will not apply to motor-fitted Dipbahan rickshaws until the final hearing of the case. The ban was initially proposed to prevent accidents on the busy streets of Guwahati.
The Dipbahan rickshaw, which was designed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, is considered safe by members of the rickshaw association, and is the predominant type of motor-fitted rickshaw in Guwahati. The GMC had given a one-week ultimatum for motor-fitted rickshaws to submit their mechanised motors or face a fine and dismantling of the motors.
