KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday directed the home department and transport authorities to file their respective comments on a petition seeking enforcement of a notification about reduced transport fares.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, was hearing the petition filed by Abdul Hakim Quaid who impleaded the chief secretary, home and transport secretaries, Karachi commissioner and the secretary of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) as respondents.

The petitioner stated the respondents had failed to implement the notification regardingreducedbusfares.

The petitioner, a resident of North Karachi, said he usually travelled in minibuses and coaches paying fare that ranged from Rs16 to Rs20. He said that the government had significantly slashed the prices of petroleum products from 2015 to 2016 and subsequently reducedtransportfares.

On the directives of the provincial transport department, the RTA had issued the notification reducing fares from seven per cent to 12 per cent, he said. Yet some transporters did not reduce thefares,he added.

He submitted that 90 per cent of public transport owners had already converted their vehicles to CNG but they charged fares calculated on the basis of diesel and petrol prices.

The petitioner told the bench that the notification about reduced fares was issued on March 2 to pass on benehts of the decrease in petrol and diesel prices to the public but this notification was not implemented.

He argued that transporters charged additional fare of Rs6 per passenger that putextraburdenonthepoor people. He said the RTA had completely failed to enforce the notification. He asked the court to issue the directive to the authorities concerned to strictly implement the notification.