The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to consider a representation made by a public interest litigant, and ascertain if it would be possible to make it mandatory for all private schools to only purchase buses that had bodies built by builders authorised by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).
Acting Chief Justice T. Raja and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy issued the direction while disposing of the PIL petition filed by D. Selvam, a resident of Pallipalayam in Erode district, who insisted that the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) should not register school buses built by unauthorised agencies, in view of ensuring the safety of children.
The petitioner’s counsel, Naveen Kumar Murthy, brought it to the notice of the court that several incidents of small schoolchildren losing their lives due to accidents such as falling down from holes on the floor of their school buses had been reported in many places, and therefore, it was necessary to ensure their safety.
He told the Bench there was no rule which required private schools to build the bodies of their buses only by ARAI authorised builders. The absence of such a stipulation had led to many institutions using vehicles built by unauthorised builders, using substandard materials to keep costs low, he complained.
Referring to a notification issued in this regard by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) on April 13, 2018, the counsel urged the court to issue a direction to the State government to consider a representation made by the PIL petitioner on March 21 in the light of the Centre’s 2018 notification.
State Government Pleader P. Muthukumar agreed that the petitioner’s representation would be considered within six weeks and an appropriate decision would be taken in the light of the MoRTH notification too.
The judges recorded his submission and issued a direction to the State Transport Department to take a call within six weeks.
