The Central Government on Monday submitted before the Kerala High
Court that it had already declined a request by the state government to
ply buses allotted to Kochi city under the Jawaharlal Nehru National
Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme, to destinations outside the city
limits.

Counsel for the Centre T Sanjay also produced a copy of
the letter by the Central Government before the court. The case was
adjourned for hearing to Tuesday. A Division Bench comprising Chief
Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice C K Vinod Chandran issued the
directive while considering a petition filed by High Court Advocate K P
Pradeep challenging the decision of the Kerala State Road Transport
Corporation (KSRTC) to roll out JNNURM low-floor buses allotted to the
city to other districts.

The Ministry of Urban Development had
earlier stated that the financing for buses under JNNRUM is exclusively
for intra-city service. In order to ensure that the buses procured under
JNNRUM are utilised exclusively for urban transport, the state should
set up a city-specific wholly-owned SPV/umbrella body for controlling
the management of the city bus service.

The Centre had provided
financial assistance to Kerala as a one-time measure for the purchase of
buses under the scheme. The Centre had sanctioned 200 buses at an
estimated cost of `71 crore. The share of the Central Government was
fifty per cent in the scheme. “As per the information available with the
ministry, a total of 162 buses have been procured so far,” it
submitted.

The petitioner pointed out that low-floor buses should
be operated within the city as mandated by JNNURM norms. Under the
scheme, the grant was allotted to the city for procuring AC and non-AC
low-floor buses, exclusively for the city services. But the KSRTC
violated the norms and guidelines, Pradeep submitted.

According to
the petitioner, as many as 50 air-conditioned and 120 non-AC low-floor
buses were made available for plying in the city. Of these, 45 AC and
118 non-AC buses were plying to various destinations in Ernakulum
district. However, of late, some of these buses were diverted to
destinations outside the district.