Vijay Goel, former minister of state attached to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government when the latter was prime minister, moved the National Human Rights Commission against the menace of the Blueline buses.

"That the Blueline buses plying in Delhi have become a menace to citizens and are seriously threatening and jeopardising the lives of the common people is a fact. About 97 persons have been killed by these buses since January 2007. The number is going up with each day," Goel said in his petition before the NHRC.

Speaking to rediff.com Goel said this is the first time that any individual has taken up the issue with the NHRC.

"I met Justicr S Rajender Babu, chairman of National Human Rights Commission. He told me that in a couple of days his office would fix up an appointment and call me for hearing. In our petition, we have asked the commission to summon Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit and the minister of transport in the Delhi government to explain how the right to life and personal liberity as enshrined in Article 21, which is a fundamental right, was taken away by these buses which had been plying and killings people on Delhi roads with impunity," he said.

He accusesd Dikshit of adopting a callous attitude towards the lives of commuters who use the buses as a major means of transport to travel from one place to another when she told a television channel that it was the duty of the traffic police to ensure smooth traffic on Delhi roads.

Incidentally Vijay Goel, former member of parliament from Delhi Sadar, recently drove a Blueline bus without any valid licence.

A Delhi court had reprimanded him for this act.