Safety in Public Transport: Kerala High Court directs installation of location trackers, emergency buttons in public service vehicles

The Kerala High Court has directed the State Government to effectively implement directives to install vehicle location tracking devices and emergency buttons in all public transport vehicles, to ensure safety in public transport. (Jaffer Khan v Union of India and Ors.; Pouravakasha Samrakshana Samiti v. Union of India and Ors.).A Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly disposed of two Public Interest Litigation petitions seeking the implementation of the Central Government's decisions to install the tracking devices.."Having regard to ... safety of the commuters, in particular, women and children, and taking note of the periodical orders issued by the Government of Kerala, a duty is cast upon them to implement the rule and the notifications, without any further delay."the Court said..The Petitions before the Court made reference to a directive of a Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to State Governments directing the installation of these devices. .This directive was made in the backdrop of the Nirbhaya Gangrape, which took place aboard a bus. .[Breaking] Delhi Court orders execution of Nirbhaya death row convicts on March 20 at 5.30 am.Thereafter, Rule 125-H was introduced to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, followed by an amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act, Section 136-A, both of which made the location tracking devices a requisite for public transport vehicles..Subsequently, the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules themselves were amended with a similar requirement..All of these required the States to take steps to fit public transport vehicles with location tracking devices and emergency buttons..In pursuance of these, the State Government issued a Circular categorising six groups of vehicles for which tracking devices were made mandatory. However, the deadline for installing was extended for the State-owned modes of transportation and stage carriers. .Aggrieved by the State Government's successive deferrals, the petitioners approached the High Court seeking the immediate implementation of the directives. The petitions challenged the successive deferrals as being arbitrary, highly illegal, and without basis..The petitioners also questioned why the directives were not being made applicable to other means of public transport vehicles, that were not expressly covered by the circulars. .One of the petitioners attributed the delay in implementing the directions to the influence of powerful goods transport owners who feared location tracking being used to curb illegal mining. .These vehicles were the major cause for motor accidents. Thus, to ensure safety, the petitioner sought that the directive was made applicable to good-carrying vehicles as well..The Counsel for the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and the Kerala Government submitted that the Corporation's poor financial conditions, meagre income receipts and the pandemic caused a delay in implementing the directives. There was no wilful default on complying with directives, it was contended on behalf of the State..The installation had already been complete on vehicles belonging to educational institutions, it was additionally stated..While the Court noted that the poor financial position of the KSRTC was "not a new feature", it rejected the petitioner's contention that the extension of deadlines for the installation was arbitrary. The reasons expressed by the State were "just and reasonable", the Court concluded..The Court also dismissed the contention on there being a nexus between powerful lobbies of goods transport owners and the government. The Court pointed out that the State had already made the directives applicable to goods carriage vehicles, despite the Centre exempting them from installing location trackers..All the same, the Court has now directed that the installation of the safety measures without any further delay. The Bench has directed:"... we dispose of the Writ Petitions directing the Secretary to the Government, Transport Department, State of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, respondent No.2 in W.P.(C) No.20768 of 2020, to effectively implement Rule 151A of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, notifications, and Circular No.19/2019, with effect from 1.1.2021.".On these terms, the petition was disposed of..Jaffer Khan, the petitioner in the first petition was represented by Advocates Praveen K Joy, ES Saneej, MP Unnikrishnan, MK Samyuktha, N Abhilash, MR Eshrath Bai, Beena Joseph, Sreelekha P, Deepu Rajagopal, and TA Joy..The second petitioner NGO was represented by Advocates P Ashok Kumar, Bindu Sreedhar, and Asif N..ASG P Vijayakumar, Special Government Pleader P Santhosh Kumar, Advocate PC Chacko, and Advocate K Arjun Venugopal appeared for the State parties..Read the Judgment here: