The Hindu : Karnataka News : High Court makes speed governors mandatory for old vehicles too

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Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

High Court makes speed governors mandatory for old vehicles too

Staff Reporter

No new transport vehicle can be registered unless it is fitted with the device

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday made it mandatory for all transport vehicles plying in the State, including old vehicles, to be fitted with speed governors, a device to control speed.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice B.S. Patil passed the order on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking a direction to the State to to ensure that even old vehicles are fitted with speed governors.

Allowing the petition by Poovaiah, the court stayed two notifications issued by the Transport Department on June 29, 2007 and January 22, 2008 extending the time for old vehicles, particularly goods vehicles, to be fitted with the device.

Grace period

The court said any old vehicle brought to the Transport Department henceforth for fitness certificate would have to have a speed governor. Those already issued fitness certificates would have to install speed governors within a month from Tuesday.

In its order, the Bench said, a chronology of events from the time the first notification was issued on March 28, 2005 “would indicate that the State Government has been dragging its feet in implementing the provisions contained in Rule 118 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules and the March 28 notification relating to speed governors”.

It said, “It would appear that the State Government was subjected to pressure again and again to extend time for fixing speed governors. We can understand the Government showing indulgence and granting time for practical reasons like difficulty to fix speed governors on all vehicles all of a sudden, but even though the notification was issued three years earlier, operators of vehicles do not want to fit speed governors in their vehicles. It only reflects lack of respect for the rule of the law and concern for safety and life of the public.”

“In our view, Government has gone too far in issuing the January notification, and that too without specifying any outer limit. In such circumstances, we are inclined to stay the June 29, 2007 and January 22, 2008 notifications, and this in our view is highly necessary and in public interest.”

The court made it clear that no new transport vehicle should be registered unless it is fitted with a speed governor. For vehicles already registered, it said, they would have to be fitted with speed governors when they are brought to the jurisdictional RTO before June 30, 2008 for obtaining fitness certificate. After June 30, fitness certificates should not be issued to old vehicles if they are not fitted with speed governors.

Even transport vehicles registered outside the State have to have speed governors if they are to ply on roads in the State.

All-inclusive

Unlike Kerala and Andhra Pradesh where only a few categories of transport vehicles have to be fitted with speed governors, it has been made mandatory for all transport vehicles in Karnataka, except autorickshaws (both passenger as well as goods).

Maxi-cabs, school vans and buses, private service vehicles, private stage carriages, contract carriages, all-India tourist vehicles and all goods vehicles with a capacity to carry 3,000 kg or more will have to have speed governors. Taxis, the Transport Department said, came under the contract carriage category.

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