In the last week of January 2020 the mentioning of designation and profession on private as well as government vehicles in the Tricity (tri-city includes 3 cities- Chandigarh (UT), Panchkula (Haryana) and Mohali (Punjab), has been banned by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The Punjab police were asked to enforce the ban within 72 hours.
What does the order say?
The said order states, displaying of designation, description of office which includes words like High Court, journalist, Doctor, Army, Police, etc and unauthorized emblems on all vehicles should be prohibited.
The order has been passed by Justice Rajiv Sharma and Amol Rattan Singh during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) concerning the traffic-related issues of Tricity.
The High Court, however, has clarified that the ban will not apply to parking stickers issued by different organizations and entities.
Post the hearing, Justice Sharma also asked his staff members to remove any description of the profession from his official vehicle also.
In July 2018, Uttarakhand High Court too had passed a similar order in which Justice Sharma was also part of the bench.
There have been instances where people even have seen to have written neighbors of MLA, former MLA to overawe others which should be stopped as all should be treated equally on the road, observed the High Court.
Idle vehicles to be towed down from roads –
UT police have also been ordered by the court to tow away idle vehicles that are parked on the main roads.
The court said that this would remove the congestion caused due to the vehicles and also reduce the chances of accidents.
The High Court has also directed the traffic police to carry out drives to dissuade residence from encroaching upon green spaces and parking vehicles on the road.
A duration of 90 months has been granted by the High Court to Chandigarh MC to finalize parking policy and one month has been given to prepare the policy and another 30 days for inviting suggestions.
The process of notification has to be completed within 90 days.
The high court has also directed that all the CCTV’s in school buses should be checked to ensure that only buses with two doors are allowed to pick up schoolchildren.
