HC seeks AAP govt's response on plea challenging speed governor notification

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the AAP government's response to a plea challenging its notification making it mandatory to install speed governors in public transport vehicles running in the national capital region (NCR).

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao asked the Delhi government to file an affidavit explaining which vehicles are covered specifically by the July 17 notification and listed the matter for hearing on February 19, 2019.

The court also said that till the next hearing no action be taken against the vehicles belonging to the petitioner, Commercial Drivers Welfare Association, for not complying with the order to install speed governors.

The Association, represented by advocates Subodh Kumar Pathak and Shashi Ranjan, has sought quashing of the notification on the ground that it was "unconstitutional, unlawful, arbitrary and ultra virus" of the Constitution.

Advocate Anupam Shrivastava, appearing for the Delhi government, told the court that according to the July 17 notification, all pre-October 1, 2015 public transport vehicles need to have speed governors.

The governors would be pre-set to a specific limit according to the category of the public transport vehicle, the lawyer said.

According to the notification, transport vehicles covered with All India Tourist Permits, Interstate Permits and National Permits, need to have speed governors with a pre-set limit of 80 km per hour.

For dumpers, tankers and vehicles carrying hazardous goods, the speed governors would be set at 60 km per hour and it would be 40 km per hour for school buses covered by any permit, the notification said.

Apart from challenging the notification, the petition also sought that the association's commercial cabs and taxis, purchased after October 1, 2015, be exempted from installation of speed governors.