Madras HC flags procedural violations in Kilambakkam Bus Terminus Project

The Madras High Court on Friday (June 5, 2026) found procedural violations in the construction of Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus (KCBT) at Kilambakkam without obtaining sanction from the Chengalpattu Regional Transport Authority (RTA) as required under the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.

Justice V. Lakshminarayanan, however, refrained from declaring the establishment of the KCBT as illegal, as sought by some of the private omnibus bus operators who had filed a batch of writ petitions in 2024, since the 1989 Rules also permit ex post facto approval for a bus terminus that had already been established.

“It is not in dispute that a bus stand offering several modern facilities and amenities have been established and is functioning, currently catering to the needs of lakhs of passengers. For the mere non-compliance of Rule 245(a), I am not inclined to accept all the submissions of the learned counsel for the petitioners,” the judge wrote.

Further, holding that the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) was not the authorised entity to seek approval for the bus terminus from the RTA, the judge said, only the Kattankulathur Panchayat Union, under whose territorial jurisdiction the KCBT had been located, could make an application for the approval.

The judge also declared as unconstitutional and illegal an order passed by the State Transport Authority (STA) on January 22, 2024 directing the private omni buses operated between Chennai and the southern districts of the State to commence and terminate their operations at KCBT without entering Chennai city.

He held no such blanket restriction could be issued by the STA with respect to the omni buses which had already been issued with either national level or State level permits. He also pointed out that the statutory rules do not permit imposing of such a restriction on the basis of the routes in which the buses were plied.

“The order dated January 22, 2024 restricting the exploitation of the permit by the permit holders of southern bound buses from entering the city of Chennai as well as by classifying the omni buses on the basis of their destination, is not only ultra vires the powers conferred on the STA, but also discriminatory and hence, deserves to be quashed,” the judge held.

The judgment was reserved on January 20, 2026, after hearing the arguments of the then Advocate General P.S. Raman and delivered on Friday (June 5). In his arguments, the former A-G had told the court that the decision to construct the Kilambakkam bus terminus, in order to decongest the existing Koyambedu bus terminus, was taken in 2013 but it got fructified only in 2024.

The court was also told the government actually intended to construct two more bus terminals at Madhavaram and Kuthambakkam, too, for the buses bound to the northern districts and western districts, respectively, in the State. In a tongue-in-cheek remark, Mr. Raman had also said, “no special bus stand is contemplated to the East, as Chennai is bounded by the Bay of Bengal on that side.”