Remove leaders photos from cars, directs High Court

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court directed the Director General of Police, Home Secretary and Transport Secretary to instruct owners of vehicles to remove tinted glasses and portraits/photos of leaders (facing outside). A division bench comprising Justice N Kirubakaran (since retd) and Justice B Pugalendhi said, “Though portraits of leaders are on the dashboard, those give a message that the vehicle is possessed by a party man and the police cannot intercept.”

The Madras High Court has directed the Director General of Police, Home Secretary and Transport Secretary to instruct the owners of the vehicles to remove the tinted glasses and portraits/photos of leaders facing outside within 60 days, failing which the authorities should seize the vehicles.

Issuing this direction, a division bench comprising Justice N Kirubakaran (since retired) and Justice B Pugalendhi pointed out that no one has got any right to flout the law or to commit excesses. The bench said: “The act of having flags or designation boards or portraits of party/communal leaders or advocate/press stickers is to show that they are privileged sections of the society.”

The bench also recorded the submission of the Director General of Police that vehicles with party flags or designation boards or portraits of party/ communal leaders or advocate/ press stickers were generally flouting the traffic rules and they do not even respect the signals of the police officers.

Based on this, the bench held, “It is only in the case of emergency, the ambulance and fire vehicles are allowed to go fast even if there is the red signal to save the precious lives and to avoid damage to the properties, and not any other vehicles.”

In another direction, the bench asked the transport authorities to check whether lights on vehicles were fixed in accordance with the rules at the time of registration of the vehicle or at the time of issuance of the fitness certificate.

The bench also asked the police authorities to randomly conduct vehicle checks to ensure that the lights were fixed only as per the rules and seize the vehicles or remove the lights if they were in violation of rules. It sought the authorities to direct the owners of the vehicles to fix the number plate as per the size prescribed in the Motor Vehicle Rules within 60 days.