Karnataka high court orders notice on Tejasvi Surya’s plea seeking release of Bengaluru Metro fare report | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Monday ordered notice to the Central and state govts, as well as the Bangalore Metro Railway Corporation Limited (BMRCL), in response to a petition filed by LS Tejasvi Surya, BJP MP for the Bengaluru South constituency. The petitioner sought a direction to BMRCL to immediately publish or release the report of the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) headed by Justice (retd) R Tharani.Counsel for the petitioner submitted that three representations were given seeking the release of the report in Dec 2024. Pursuant to this, BMRCL came up with a revised fare. “The media have filed queries under the Right to Information Act. However, BMRCL has refused to reveal the report,” counsel added.“You (petitioner) are so powerful and can’t make BMRCL release this report?” Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav remarked in a lighter vein before adjourning the hearing. Surya’s counsel responded by saying that the petitioner himself met the BMRCL managing director and was told they need approval.Petitioner’s claimBMRCL must ensure that its policy decisions are not exercised in an unreasonable and unfair manner so as to create hardship for the public, Tejasvi Surya stated in his petition.BMRCL uses public funds and has a constitutional duty to function transparently without claiming immunity from its obligation to disclose the report, more so when the decision to hike the fare that affects the public stems from it, he added.According to him, Bengalureans have a legitimate expectation of transparency in the functioning of BMRCL based on established and consistent practice across metro rail corporations in the country. In the past, Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad Metro rail corporations have duly published such reports for the benefit of the public, thereby reflecting transparency in public governance and decision-making processes, he pointed out while seeking the intervention of the high court in the matter.
