Inspect school buses to check safety compliance: Bombay HC to govt

The Bombay High Court today directed the Maharashtra government to inspect at least 10 school buses of different private schools in the city to confirm their compliance with prescribed safety rules. The court also directed the state's education department to ensure that all registered school buses and private vehicles ferrying schoolchildren had valid permits and adhered to the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles (Regulations for School Buses) Rules 2011. A bench was hearing a petition filed by an association of parents of schoolchildren seeking that private vehicles which do not meet safety guidelines be disallowed from plying as school buses. According to the state's 2011 rules, all vehicles that are used as school buses should have a fixed seating capacity, have a male and female attendant each, and have functional GPS system, window grills etc. As per an affidavit submitted before the HC by the state government in January, 11,922 vehicles were registered as school buses in the state. Of these, around 8,200 vehicles had a registered agreement with schools.

The rest were hired as private vehicles by parents.

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