The Delhi High Court on Monday stayed the Centre’s notification directing all States to take stern action against unauthorised fitting of crash guards or bull bars on vehicles.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar asked the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to examine the matter and directed it not to issue challans till April 18, the next date of hearing.
“Under what power have you issued this notification? Under what law have you issued the advisory to States to take penal action against offenders? Till the next date, there will be a stay and no challans will be issued,” the Bench said.
The Court said the Ministry has not properly interpreted the Motor Vehicles Act while issuing the notification and asked it to file a detailed reply.
The Ministry had on December 7, 2017, directed all States to act against crash guards installed on vehicles saying they “pose serious safety concerns to pedestrians as well as occupants of vehicles”. Manufacturers and dealers of bull bars have challenged the notification claiming bull bars as “useful safety accessories” and that there is no rule or law dealing with it. The Ministry had said that bull bars falls under the purview of Section 52 of the Motor Vehicle Act and attracts penalty.
The petitioner claimed bull bars do not come under the Section as it pertains to modification in a vehicle and not after-market fitments. It claimed that the decision to ban bull bars was taken without any scientific survey on its safety quotient.
The court is seized of a separate petition which has sought banning such metal bumpers guards as they pose a threat to lives of pedestrians as well as passengers.
