Gujarat High Court orders state to stop illegal use of beacons

The Gujarat High Court ordered the the state government today, to stop usage of illegal beacons atop vehicles of various functionaries within two weeks in connection with a contempt of court petition.
A division bench of Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Z K Syed today ordered removal of all such illegal beacons and directed the state to file an 'action taken report' within two weeks.
The division bench acted upon a contempt petition filed by Junagadh-based K B Sanghvi who sought the Gujarat High Court's direction to remove all illegal beacons from vehicles of Gujarat government functionaries.
Earlier in August last year, the Gujarat High Court had directed the state government to remove all illegal beacons from vehicles of office bearers who are not entitled to either red or yellow light.

However, the Gujarat state authorities did not take steps to follow the high court's order, the petitioner alleged in his contempt plea.
"Chief Minister of Gujarat state, the Governor, judges of the high courts and the Supreme Court, Lokayukta (ombudsman) and disaster management officials are entitled to use the beacon, but office bearers of municipal corporations also use beacons, which is illegal," Sanghvi's petition said.

The petition said that the mayor, chairmen of standing committees of civic bodies sport beacons atop their vehicles, though they are not entitled to this facility.
Last year, the Gujarat High Court had asked authorities to remove illegal beacons from all vehicles which are not found legitimate as per the two notifications issued by the Gujarat state government in 2004 and 2012.

The government notifications mention the category of office bearers who are entitled to use beacons on their vehicles.