No commercial vehicles for election: Madras High Court

Chennai: Pointing out that authorities have already issued instructions to the effect that non-passenger vehicles and school buses should not used for transportation of public for election meetings by  political parties, the Madras high court has directed authorities including police and election officers to take prompt action if they receive any complaint of violation.

A division bench comprising Justices K.K.Sasidharan and S.Vimala gave the directive while disposing of a PIL from M.S.Balan, a voter from Nilakottai, which sought a direction to authorities not to permit candidates from using commercial vehicles as passenger vehicles for election purpose in violation of the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.

The bench said even though there were provisions under the Motor Vehicles Act to ensure that vehicles were piled only in accordance with the permit, it was often violated especially during elections. The authorities have now taken action to curb the use of non-passenger vehicles for transportation of public.

The owners of these non-passenger vehicles used for transportation of public should realize that in case of accidents involving people, they were not entitled for insurance benefits on account of violation of permit. Even the people, who were traveling in such vehicles, were also at risk, in as much as they would also be denied compensation by the insurance companies in case of accident.

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

The bench said none of the political parties was taking up this issue as they were also responsible for this sorry state of affairs. The authorities have already issued directions to ensure that the provisions of MV Act and Rules were implemented strictly. It would not be sufficient by issuing these directions. The authorities should take prompt action to enforce the provisions of MV Act and Rules strictly and their own instructions, the bench added.

Giving liberty to the petitioner to make complaint to the ECI as well as to other statutory authorities, in case it was found that the school buses and non-passenger vehicles were used for transportation of public for election meetings or any other similar meetings, the bench said in case any such complaint was made, necessarily, the police, the authorities under the MV Act and the election officers must take prompt action and show that Acts and Regulations were meant for obedience and not for violation.