Victoria owners to move Supreme Court

Mumbai: The owners and drivers of ‘Victoria’ horse carriages are set to approach the Supreme Court, challenging the Bombay high court’s order which banned plying of the horse-drawn carriages in the city. The owners contended that as the lives of many people are affected by the closure, and the government’s compensation and rehabilitation scheme is insufficient, they are left with no option but to move the Supreme Court.

The state government on Monday had decided to give Rs 1 lakh and a hawking licence or a one-time settlement package of Rs 3 lakh, acting on the high court order directing it to formulate a scheme to rehabilitate the affected Victoria owners/drivers.

According to Muttu Swami, a carriage owner, though the high court had asked the government to formulate a proper scheme to rehabilitate all stake-holders who would be affected by the ban, the scheme proposed by the government was insufficient, and hence they wanted the high court order to be reviewed.

“We had approached the high court in April to review its order in light of the package being offered by the government, but the high court refused and so we are left with no option but to knock the doors of the apex court,” said Mr Swami.

Another Victoria driver Vicky who has been rendered jobless after the ban said, “The compensation being offered by the state government is less and will only benefit the owner of the Victoria. However, in most cases, the owner hires a driver who will not get anything. There are nearly 300 owners and a similar number of drivers, but only one of them will get compensation. The government has not thought about others who have entire families depending upon their income that was generated from the Victoria rides.”

However, a horse carriage owner Larry Jacinta from Chembur said that they don’t have a case to approach the Supreme Court. “The problem has emerged as there are too many people involved,” said Jacinta.