Hyderabad HC seeks Centre's stand on helmet rule

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday sought to know the stand of the Central government in penalising the commuters for not wearing helmets while driving two-wheelers.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Shameem Akhtar was dealing with a petition filed by Vudataneni Rama Rao of Ranga Reddy district in 2010 seeking to declare the failure of respondents to implement Section 129 of the Motor Vehicles Act and Rules 430 and 486 of the Andhra Pra-desh Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 which are enforceable with effect from September 1, 1989, as illegal.

Sanjeev Kumar, special counsel for Telangana, submitted that the Centre had recently sought the opinion from state governments for making amendments to Section 177 of the MV Act, which deals with imposing of fine on two-wheeler riders for not wearing helmet. He said as of now the section seek to impose a fine of Rs 100 when a two-wheeler rider is caught for the first time and Rs 300 for the second time.

He said many violators particularly youngsters casually pay the compounding fee whenever they caught. He said the Telangana government has asked the Centre to increase the fine amount upto Rs 1,000.

While pointing out the need for creating awareness among youngster for use of helmet, the bench asked the petitioner to implead the Centre as party to the petition so that the court can ascertain the views of the Centre.

Court rejects land transfer request
The Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday refused to accept the proposal of some of the depositors to allocate them land instead of repaying their deposits by auctioning the lands of Agri Gold Group of Companies.

When a division bench comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice S.V. Bhatt on Wednesday was conducting the auction of the properties of Agri Gold located in Saidapuram, Sandaluru and Nandaluru of Krishna district on the second day, some of the depositors urged the bench to allot lands instead of reimbursing their money.

Mr V. Pattabhi, counsel appearing for All India Agri Gold Association, submitted that there are seven lakh depositors in the association, who have deposited around '30 crores in the company and said that they are requesting the bench to transfer properties of the company located in Vijay-awada to them in lieu of money the company owed to them.

The bench said that the court has to answer 32 lakh depositors and it would not permit such a proposal. The bench has cancelled the auction of corporate office of the Agro Gold in Vijayawada as there was no proper response from the bidders. The bench felt that division of 80 acres located on Keesara in Krishna district would fetch more revenue in the auction. The bench adjourned the case to January 30.