The Bombay high court has issued a notice in a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking that the Maharashtra government and Registrar of Co-operative Societies be directed to implement the Motor Electric vehicle (MEV) Policy 2021 by amending the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR) 2034.
A division bench of Justices SV Gangapurwala and SG Dige on Friday issued notices to the government, registrar of co-operative societies, BMC, BEST and the central government. the HC has kept the matter for hearing on January 6.
The HC was hearing a PIL filed by Amit Dholakia and Sohel Kapadia seeking directions to the authorities to frame and implement guidelines for electric vehicle charging points in housing societies.
The duo had approached their respective housing societies for obtaining a new electric power connection for charging EVs at the garage.
The societies refused to grant permission stating there is no policy in place for permitting individual members to install their electric meters for EV charging.
They then made a representation before the state government and the registrar of cooperative societies for the same. However, they have not received any response yet.
After making inquiries, the petitioners also realised that there were other similarly aggrieved individuals in Maharashtra.
Hence, the plea states that they were constrained to file the PIL “Owing to a regulatory and legislative vacuum of there being no guidelines regarding installations of Electric Vehicles charging stations within the co-operative housing societies”.
Given the immense environmental and financial advantages of EVs coupled with the State and Central government policies in this regard, it is necessary to ensure EV charging infrastructure is installed in every cooperative housing society, contends the plea.
The central government has issued Model Building Bye-Laws and Urban Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation Guidelines urging for the facilitation of EV charging infrastructure in residential buildings.
On the same lines, the Maharashtra government also promulgated a Maharashtra Electric Vehicle Policy (MEV Policy) of 2021 which promoted EVs. However, the government has not taken any steps to implement the same.
Also, the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act does not provide any provision for EV charging.
The plea contends that it is necessary for the State and the Registrar of Co-operative Societies to ensure that the MEV policy is implemented through the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act.
An amendment was introduced to the Building Code and Town Planning Rules providing EV charging stations for private and commercial buildings. Accordingly, the same has been implemented by amending the model building by-laws. But a similar amendment was not made to the bye-laws for residential societies.
