I magine you are on the road, in need of transport. You wave your hand, and two auto rickshaws stop. Your chosen driver asks you where you want to go, accepts the metered fare, and takes you to your destination.
Such auto rides are possible, but not always in Delhi . Earlier this month, the Supreme Court wasted an opportunity to improve the lives of auto rickshaw commuters by turning down a request to lift the cap of 1,00,000 auto rickshaws in the capital, imposed in 2011. The court received this application from Bajaj Autos in 2018.
Judges felt that even if lifting the cap was the right decision, they could not be seen doing so at the request of a commercial interest. It would reflect poorly on the Court. The Court recognised the need to increase the cap on auto rickshaws in Delhi, but also made an impossible ask.
The order noted that the cap could be lifted in the interest of the people if the application came from the government or an organisation representing the interests of the common man, and not from a profit-making company. History and economic theory tell us that such a request is unlikely to come from a common man. The government will choose the side of an organisation that exists and is powerful at representing its interests: unions of auto rickshaw drivers.
To form interest groups of a large number of members such as auto rickshaw riders, public transport commuters, pedestrians, or consumers, or taxpayers is impossible. Interest groups work only when the interest.