HC against transporting people in commercial vehicles

The Madras High Court today directed the police, officials of Motor Vehicles Department and Election Commission to take prompt action against those who were transporting people in commercial vehicles, whether it is for election meetings or for any other purpose.
The direction was given by a division bench comprising Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice S Vimala disposing of a PIL seeking to direct the authorities from desisting candidates and their agents from using commercial vehicles as passenger vehicles for election purpose.
"The authorities should take prompt action to enforce provisions of Motor Vehicles Act and Rules and the instructions issued by the Principal Secretary-cum-Transport Commissioner on May 2", the bench said.

The petitioner S Balan in his PIL submitted that while the misuse of vehicles during the elections has been brought down considerably, it still continued and the officials were not taking proper action against it.
The Motor Vehicles Act-1988 clearly defined that a commercial vehicle should not carry passengers, he submitted.
"Even though there are provisions under Motor Vehicles Act to ensure that vehicles ply only in accordance with the permit, it is often violated especially during elections", the bench said.
"The owners of non-passenger vehicles used for transportation of public should realise that in case of accidents involving people, they are not entitled to insurance benefits on account of violation of permit" the bench said.

"Therefore, it would be in the interest of all the parties and the people at large to ensure that passenger vehicles like trucks are not used for transportation of public, whether it is for election meetings or for any other purpose", the bench said.