The Hindu : Kerala News : Apex court orders installation of speed governors by September 30

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Friday, Feb 11, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Apex court orders installation of speed governors by September 30

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, FEB. 10. The Supreme Court today directed the Kerala Government to ensure that all stage-carriers and heavy transport vehicles plying in the State be fitted with speed governors by September 30 this year.

A three-judge Bench comprising Justice N. Santosh Hegde, Justice B.P. Singh and Justice S.B. Sinha gave the direction while dismissing a batch of special leave petitions filed by the Kerala State Private Bus Operators Federation and others.

The Bench pointed out that the Kerala High Court had in 1986 given a direction for fixation of speed governors in vehicles and that this order had been upheld by the apex court. So the present petitions could not be entertained, the Bench said.

On a batch of writ petitions, the High Court had directed all regional transport authorities to impose the condition that the vehicle covered by the permit must be fitted with a speed governor. A time limit of three months was granted.

Government notification

Pursuant to the judgment, the Kerala Government issued a notification on April 16, 2003 that all stage-carriages and heavy transport vehicles should be fitted with speed governors by September 2003. Since this notification was not properly implemented, a contempt petition was filed and the High Court initiated contempt proceedings against the Transport Secretary and the Transport Commissioner. Against this order, the State preferred a special leave petition contending that non-implementation of the notification was due to non-availability of speed governors.

On behalf of the Private Bus Operators Federation, senior counsel K. Radhakrishnan submitted before the apex court that the operators were not made parties to the public interest litigation initiated before the High Court. He said that when conditions were imposed, the transport authorities should hear the operators.

He submitted that since the High Court had rendered the direction to the authorities imposing conditions, the valid rights of the operators were affected. When the Centre had not framed any rules regarding the manner of ensuring compliance, the High Court ought not to have assumed the jurisdiction of the statutory authorities, he said. But the Bench rejected the contention and dismissed the special leave petitions.

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