No order making helmets optional for motorists: Guj govt to HC

The Gujarat government on Monday told the High Court it had never brought any notification, order or regulation making helmets optional for two-wheeler riders, over a month after transport minister announced that it was made optional in municipal limits.

The government said this in response to a PIL challenging its announcement that helmets were optional for two-wheeler riders in municipal areas in the state.

In its submission before the division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Natha and Justice AJ Shastri, government pleader Manisha Lavkumar said there is no notification, order, or regulation making helmets optional, and added helmets had been made mandatory even for pillion riders.

The court directed the government to file an affidavit in this regard by the next hearing on January 30.

The government made this submission after transport minister R C Faldu announced on December 4 that the state Cabinet has decided to make the rule of wearing helmets voluntary in municipal corporation and municipality limits in the state.

The government was, on Monday, replying to a PIL filed by one Sanjeev Bhargav, who said he was aggrieved by "wilful, negligent, and neglectful attitude/acts/omissions of the state government" by making helmets optional and sought that the court declare the decision "illegal and unconstitutional".

"The Gujarat cabinet decision to make helmets temporarily optional for two-wheeler riders in all municipal areas in the state is contrary to the provisions of the recently amended MV Act, 2019," the PIL said.

Section 129 of the MV Act says everybody driving or riding a two-wheeler should wear protective headgear, the petitioner said in the PIL.