Kerala - Kochi

Only one pillion rider for two-wheelers

Kochi: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the Director-General of Police and the Transport Commissioner to instruct the police and motor vehicle authorities to seize two-wheelers carrying more than one pillion rider and take stern action against the driver.

The Bench of Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair and Justice Harun-Ul-Rashid, however, allowed carrying a small baby on the two-wheeler, at the maximum.

The court, disposing of an appeal in a motor accident claim case, said that any vehicle found to be used in violation of Section 128 of the Motor Vehicle Act (with more than one pillion rider) should not be allowed to continue its journey. At the most, one small baby could be accommodated on the lap of the pillion rider “without sharing the seating space with the child.” The court pointed out that Section 128 of the Motor Vehicle Act barred the driver of a motorbike from carrying more than one pillion rider.

The Bench ordered that the first offence be entered in the registration certificate and for a repeated offence, serious actions such as prosecution before court or cancellation of registration, whichever is permissible under the law, should be taken.

The court noted that there was no handgrip on either side of motor cycles or behind the driver’s seat, but it was seen fixed behind the seat of the pillion rider, which was not expected under Section 123 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules. The court observed that compliance with Section 123 of the Rules would involve fixing of handgrip in between the seats of the rider and the pillion riders and not behind both seats. If it had to serve any purpose, it should be installed in the middle of the two seats or at least on either side of the pillion rider.

The court directed the Transport Commissioner to issue instructions to Regional Transport Officers not to issue registration certificates to two-wheelers which did not comply with Rule 123.

Passing the directives, the judge observed that a motor bike with a seating capacity for two was obviously designed to carry only two passengers. In the first place, there was no space to share for more than two passengers. If a rider “sacrificed his comfortable seat at least in part to accommodate a third passengers, certainly, he would not be able to control the bike.” Besides, since the bike was designed only to carry only two passengers, additional weight on account of a third passenger would affect its stability. However, in violation of Section 128 of the Act, three passengers and very often children were riding on two-wheelers along with the rider and the pillion rider. In fact, more than two persons riding on a bike involved in accidents were not entitled to compensation.

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