The Supreme Court has allowed the registration of 5,000 new autorickshaws in the capital on the plea of the Delhi government to lift the restriction on registration of new autorickshaws.

A bench comprising Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice H K Sema passed the order.

In its application filed through counsel S Wasim Ahmed Quadri, the city government sought modification of the court's December 16, 1997 order.

The court had frozen the number of Three-wheeler Scooter Rickshaws and had directed the transport department not to grant fresh permits in respect of TSRs, except by way of replacement.

"Limitation on induction of fresh autorickshaws for public transportation has increased the incidents of misbehaviour, overcharging and refusal to carry passengers. Increasing the number of TSRs will help us control the incidence of misbehaviour and this will be in the interest of the commuters," the government had pleaded.

The level of pollution had been drastically reduced by its decision only to register four-stroke TSRs in place of the earlier two-stroke TSRs, it said.

With the conversion of all autos into CNG mode, there was no fear of any increase in pollution level and hence there is no reason to restrict fresh registration.