A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar rejecting the plea challenging the free Metro ride scheme for women in the national capital stating that it is for the authorities to decide on giving concession to a particular class. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea, which had challenged the free Metro ride scheme for women in the national capital. The court also imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 for filing the plea without “substance”. A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar rejected the plea stating that it is for the authorities to decide on giving concession to a particular class. The court said that the cost has to be deposited within four weeks to the Delhi High Court Bar Library. The court also rejected the prayer in the petition seeking reduction of fares and to make 15 slabs of ticket prices instead of existing six. “Fixation of fares is a statutory function and the process is complex which involves consideration of several factors, including cost. All these factors cannot be determined in a PIL,” the court said. The bench also added that the petitioner, advocate Bipin Bihari Singh, had failed to point out any illegality in fixation of fares and added that the court would be “extremely slow” in fixing the fares for Delhi Metro, which is the prerogative of the government. The court also noted that two similar petitions, relating to Delhi Metro fares, were filed earlier as well and they were not entertained either. The bench said it was on authorities to give or not to give any concession to a particular class in Metro ride fares. The plea filed by Singh had challenged the proposal of Delhi government to make Metro ride free for women saying such a move would create a parallel arbitrary discrimination against other poorer sections of the society who find it economically difficult to travel in Metro after ticket prices were hiked. It said none of the first three fare fixation committees constituted had recommended such a drastic increase in fares in Delhi metro.