A bid by NTSA to phase out 14-seater Public Service Vehicles has hit a brick wall after High Court Justice Weldon Korir ruled against the regulation terming it illegal and unconstitutional.
The judge ruled that the regulator failed to demonstrate evidence of public participation in the regulation. The judge further ruled that Legal Notice No. 179 of 2014 ought to have been submitted to Parliament for approval, hence failure to do so rendered it null and void within seven days of publication.
“It was incumbent upon the makers of the regulations to demonstrate that the public was involved in the enactment of the regulations. The respondents have failed to prove that there was public participation in the enactment of the impugned regulation,” reads the ruling.
Back in 2014, NTSA through Legal Notice No. 179 had indicated that all public service vehicles below the capacity of 25 passengers would not receive new licences or renewals.
This move was in preparation for the botched Rapid Bus Transport program, the only implimentation of the program was the useless red marking on Thika Road.
The notice which barred new 14 seater vehicles from entering the road received heavy criticism from players in the matatu industry, who then went to court to obtain temporary orders to block the directive.
The ruling is now expected to finally mark an end to the courtroom back and forth between matatu SACCOs and the NTSA.
“The Court, therefore, finds that Regulation 4 of Legal Notice No. 179 of 2014 did not comply with this particular constitutional requirement for the enactment of legislation.”
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