Madras High Court upholds Tamil Nadu government’s new mini bus scheme

The Madras High Court has upheld the validity of a New Comprehensive Mini Bus Scheme framed on August 24, 2025 for granting permits to private minibus operators in order to cover 25,708 km across the State and ensure last mile connectivity by reaching remote hamlets that hadn’t heard the sound of a bus engine or the smell of diesel even after 78 years of Independence.

Justice N. Mala dismissed a batch of cases challenging the G.O. She said, “The scheme is framed to ensure that villagers from remote areas would reach the nearest town or city by availing the minibus services instead of walking miles to reach the nearest bus stand/stop. The scheme, being indisputably in furtherance of public convenience, warrants judicial affirmation.”

Convinced with the arguments of Advocate General P.S. Raman, the judge went on to state: “The Constitution recognises the right to free movement under Article 19(1)(d). Recognizing the constitutional right, the respondents (government authorities) have formulated a scheme to ensure that the rural public have unrestricted movement from the remote villages to the towns and cities.”

The judge also said, it was a matter of common knowledge that the road infrastructure in the villages was in a deplorable conditions making it difficult for regular buses to operate in such areas. Therefore, the government, in its wisdom, had resolved that mini buses would be more suitable. “It is well settled law that a policy decision of the government cannot be reviewed by this court under the writ jurisdiction,” she added.

Further, taking note of the chequered history of introduction of private minibuses in the State that had led to a spate of litigations in the past by the stage carriage operators, the judge said: ‘The history of the litigation demonstrates consistent opposition to the inclusion of the mini buses in the State transport system. Such resistance cannot be permitted to continue any further.”

The judge recorded the submission of the A-G that the present scheme was intended at covering 90,000 villages and hamlets in the State and would benefit approximately one crore people in having access to bus transport. She also took note that the government had initially introduced the new scheme in January this year but after finding certain lacunae, it came up with a revised scheme in April 2025.