[Vadakkencherry Bus Accident] "This collective failure must be remembered": Two benches of Kerala High Court take cognisance

Two benches of the Kerala High Court on Thursday took cognisance of the bus accident which occurred in Vadakkenchery, Palakkad in which nine persons, including five school children died and over forty persons were injured [CP Ajithkumar & Anr. v State of Kerala & Ors.]..First, a division bench of Justices Anil K Narendran and PG Ajithkumar initiated suo motu proceedings to look into the incident which occurred in the wee hours of Thursday when a tourist bus carrying school children and a KSRTC public transport bus collided. The division bench sought reports from the State police and the Motor Vehicles department on the incident and also on some alleged violations of its previous orders banning the use of illegal light modifications. .Later in the afternoon, single-judge Justice Devan Ramachandran also took up the issue as part of the continuous hearings in one of its longest pending writ petitions, first moved in 2008, seeking directions to the concerned authorities to ensure the maintenance of the roads."We awoke to terrible news today. A horrific accident happened at Vadakkencherry. 4 or 5 children lost their lives. And it will only be news for one day. But I don't propose to let it be news for just one day. It is a collective failure that we let this happen and this has to be remembered... It is an inherent lack of value for live that is playing out on our roads. If we don't take cognisance now, it will be forgotten tomorrow," the judge said at the outset of the hearing..Throughout the hearing which involved conversation between the Bar and the Bench, issues were raised regrading reckless driving, lack of street lights on the National Highways, lack of emergency alarms and speed governors in large vehicles and non-implementation of Court orders."Drivers use vehicles and occupy road spaces as if they have carte blanche to do as they please and the learned counsel appearing for the parties as well others at the Bar confirm that this is because there is a complete lack of respect and fear for law... Had the recklessness been addressed earlier, perhaps this could have been avoided," the Court said in its order.However, he clarified that the Court is not involving itself with the Vadakkencherry incident specifically as the same is being investigated by the authorities. Its focus, the Court said, would be on measures that can be taken to prevent such incidents in the future. The Court suo motu impleaded the Transport Commissioner and Road Safety Commissioner as additional respondents. Since the same officer is occupying both posts at present, the Court ordered his personal appearance at the hearing tomorrow. "The pain of the families, the parents, the children, the husbands, the wives, fathers and mothers, requires urgent intervention and no more time can be lost," the order said..The matter will be taken up next on Friday..[Read Order]