Steps taken to hike pre-set limit on speed governors of public transport vehicles: AAP govt to HC

The AAP government Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that steps have been initiated to increase the pre-set limit from 40 kmph to 80 kmph on speed governors to be installed on public transport vehicles that have permits to ply in the national capital region.

Currently as per a 2017 notification, public transport vehicles, including school buses, are required to have 40 kmph as the limit. Now, the government is proposing to increase it.

Advocate Anupam Shrivastava, appearing for the Delhi government, made the submission before a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao, and said the Delhi lieutenant governor's approval to the proposal on increasing the pre-set limit is awaited.

The court, subsequently, asked the Delhi government to file an affidavit indicating the status of the proposal before the next date of hearing on July 30.

The direction by the court came while hearing a PIL challenging a Delhi government notification of July 17 last year making it mandatory to install speed governors in public transport vehicles running in the national capital region (NCR).

The petition was moved by the Commercial Drivers Welfare Association, which was on the last date protected by the court from any coercive action for not complying with the order to install speed governors.

On Tuesday, the bench said the interim order would continue to operate till the next date of hearing.

The association has sought quashing of the notification on the ground that it was "unconstitutional, unlawful, arbitrary and ultra virus" of the Constitution.

The speed governors would be pre-set to a specific limit according to the category of the public transport vehicle, the petition has said.

Transport vehicles covered with all India tourist permits, interstate permits and national permits, need to have speed governors with a pre-set limit of 80 km per hour, according to the notification.

For dumpers, tankers and vehicles carrying hazardous goods, the speed governors would be set at 60 km per hour and it would be 40 km per hour for transport vehicles, including school buses, covered by any permit to ply in Delhi and NCR, the notification said.

Apart from challenging the notification, the petition has also sought that the association's commercial cabs and taxis, purchased after October 1, 2015, be exempted from installation of speed governors.