The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Ensure emission-checking by all vehicles once in 6 months: court

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 24, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Ensure emission-checking by all vehicles once in 6 months: court

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, DEC. 23. The Madras High Court has directed the State and Central transport authorities to effectively implement Central Motor Vehicles Rules and ensure that all vehicles obtained emission-checking certificates from designated testing centres once in six months.

Justice D. Murugesan gave the direction on a writ petition filed by the Tamil Nadu Vehicle Emission Check Centres Association. Dissatisfied with the Government advocates concerned for having failed to furnish relevant information to court, the judge said, "in spite of sufficient opportunity, Government advocates for State as well as the Central Government Standing Counsel expressed their inability to assist the court by way of instruction. Hence there will be an interim direction as prayed for."

According to the petitioner, though Rule 115 of the Act required all vehicles to obtain emission-checking certificates once in six months from authorised testing centres, more than 80 per cent of vehicles did not comply with the stipulation owing to poor enforcement. While this being so, on February 10 this year, the State Transport Commissioner issued a notification upgrading the existing emission norms. He also issued circulars mandating emission-testing centres to upgrade their machinery to conform to the new standards within a week from November 25.

`Time too short'

The petitioner said the time given to them was too short and the upgrading would require at least eight months. He also prayed for a direction to the transport authorities to make available the printed formats prescribing the revised emission levels to testing centres.

Counsel for the petitioner-association, Narmadha Sampath, submitted, "without the proper enforcement of Rule 115(2) of the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Act 1989, there is no point in merely upgrading the standards of vehicular emission. And there is also the question of financial burden on the testing centres being run with poor patronage."

She prayed for an interim direction to the authorities concerned to enforce the rules and to issue the new format to the members of the association expeditiously. She also sought a direction to the Transport Commissioner to grant two more months time for upgrading gas analyser equipment and eight months to upgrade the smoke meter reading equipment in testing centres.

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