ORDER

On 28th July, 1998 this Court had directed, inter alia, that the entire fleet of city buses which are operating in Delhi be converted to single fuel CNG mode by 31st March, 2001. Despite this direction, given nearly 3 years ago, Government of Delhi s response has been extremely tardy, to say the least. No serious attention was paid to the order of the Court by the Administration and it appears that even the private operators got encouraged by this tardy response of the State Administration and they also did not take appropriate steps to comply with the order of the Court dated 28th July, 1998. It was after taking note of the submissions made at the bar, to mitigate to whatever extent possible, the hardship which the commuter public would have been put to, particularly the school going children, that on 26th March, 20011 certain relaxations were given by this Court. It was directed, inter alia, that all those vehicle owners who have taken effective steps or shall take so by 31st March, 2001, for the purpose of either acquiring new buses which would operate on CNG fuel mode or to convert their existing buses to operate on CNG fuel mode could be granted permits/authorisations, a