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The counsel for the civic body argued that the petitioner had made baseless allegations as the AMC had not made debit or credit card payments mandatory for Janmitra cards. A division bench
of the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation pertaining to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) making it mandatory for commuters to use Janmitra cards
to avail Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) service. The counsel for the civic body argued that the petitioner had made baseless allegations as the AMC had not made debit or credit card
payments mandatory for Janmitra cards. The counsel told the court that the cards were also available for passengers in lieu of cash. The court then dismissed the petition and said the
petitioner was wasting the time of the court. The petition had alleged on the basis of media reports that the civic body had made it mandatory for passengers to buy the card either through a
debit or a credit card transaction and not cash. It further said that when initially introduced, the smart cards were available for a fee paid in cash without the need for any documents.
These cards were directly issued without the involvement of any bank or any third party. It had further stated that similar cards were issued by the Metro and Indian Railways but none had
made the purchase of such cards through debit and credit cards mandatory.