‘State has power to identify, regulate, shift taxi stands’: Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh High Court junks cab union’s plea

The court further held that no material has been placed before this Court to show that the impugned action is arbitrary, mala fide, or in violation of any statutory provision.

Case

The union of Jammu Railway Station had filed the petition to quash the 2022 government notification.

The notification, issued by the transport commissioner, identified a site on the left side of the exit gate of Jammu Railway Station for the creation of an All India Taxi, Sumo, Tempo stand for a period of one year.

The petitioners argued that the notification was unconstitutional, illegal, and discriminatory, submitting that the creation of the stand had created operational problems between the two unions (rival J&K All India Taxi Sumo,Tempo Union) and that the site had previously been rejected as a proposed stand.

According to petitioners, in March 2012, the union had objected to one of the proposed taxi parking sites near Divine Lodge, Railway Station, and asked the state to reconsider its decision.

Accepting the objection, the government cancelled that parking site through a notification issued in April 2012 and approved a new taxi stand near Jewel Cinema instead.

Later, when the authorities did not hand over all approved taxi stands, the union filed a contempt petition in 2022 for non-compliance with court directions.

The petitioners submitted that in order to avoid contempt action, the government issued a fresh notification in August 2022, declaring a new taxi stand near the railway station gate after the culvert for the All India Taxi Sumo Tempo Union.

Decision

The court held that the challenge was “misconceived” and said that the petitioners themselves hadn’t disputed that their operations were entirely within the railway station premises and function under the administrative domain of the Railway authorities.

“Crucially, the new stand identified through the impugned notification is outside the railway station. The identification of this stand falls within the jurisdiction of the local traffic and municipal authorities responsible for regulating traffic, ensuring decongestion, and organising public transportation facilities in the city,” the court said.

The court noted that the petitioners are already allotted parking facilities by the railway authorities inside the railway station and another near Vaishno Dham by the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) on a tender basis.

The court observed that mere commercial inconvenience or apprehended loss of customers does not give locus standi.

Similarly, a “fanciful or sentimental grievance” may not be sufficient to confer the right to sue upon an individual, it added.