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2020 Supreme(Ker) 289
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
A.K.JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR, J.
The Truth, Neethi Nirvahana Niyamopadesa Sahaya Samithi – Appellant
Versus
State Of Kerala – Respondent
WP©.No.30065 OF 2019(G), WP(C).No.28141 OF 2019(P)
Decided on : 06-02-2020
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant : DR.K.P.PRADEEP, SRI.SANAND RAMAKRISHNAN, SMT. NEENA ARIMBOOR, SRI.T.T.BIJU, SMT.T.THASMI
For the Respondent: SRI. P. SANTHOSH KUMAR,SPL. GP.
IMPORTANT POINTS
Whenever a distress call is made by a member of the public, who is aggrieved by an unreasonable demand/action by an autorickshaw driver, the call placed by the said member of public to any of the Toll-free Numbers aforementioned, are immediately rerouted to the Control room so that suitable police personnel will promptly reach the location of the caller, and attend to the emergency situation. The instructions given by the District Police Chief to the field formation should be such as would ensure that the caller in distress is not asked/made to call another number, and that the call once made by the caller in distress is rerouted at the instance of the police authorities, to the appropriate Control centre.
Headnote:
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988- Section 67 ;; The Legal Metrology Act, 2009;;The Legal Metrology (General) Rules, 2011 ;;The Kerala Legal Metrology Enforcement Rules, 2012--The periodical checking are also being conducted by this department to ensure the taxi meters are in working condition and if any defective meters are found, the rejection certificate will be issued and after rectifying the defects, they are again produced the meter with the vehicle for reverification and the process will be completed in accordance with the Legal Metrology (General) Rules, 2011 and the Kerala Legal Metrology Enforcement Rules, 2012
Statement of facts:
The writ petitioners are essentially aggrieved by the alleged action of autorickshaw drivers, plying within the territorial limits of Kannur district, and coming within the administrative jurisdiction of the Thalassery Municipality and Malappattam Panchayat, in not operating the fare/hire meters installed in their vehicles and thereby charging fares far in excess of that fixed by the State Government under Section 67 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. It is their case in the writ petition that there have been numerous instances where persons have been charged exorbitant rates in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act and Rules, as also in violation of the provisions of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, and since such instances invariably happen at odd hours of the day/night, the passengers often find themselves at the mercy of the erring autorickshaw drivers. The prayers in the writ petitions are for suitable directions to the respective statutory authorities to ensure that the autorickshaw drivers ply their vehicles in due compliance with the statutory provisions as also the Government orders issued from time to time regulating the fare/hire charges that can be collected by them from the traveling public.
Finding of the court:
On the response team responding to the call made by a distressed caller, its personnel shall forthwith assess the situation and determine whether there is any statutory violation occasioned, or unreasonable demand made, by the autorickshaw driver in respect of the journey undertaken/proposed. In the event of finding so, they shall, after ensuring the safety of the passenger concerned, report the autorickshaw driver concerned to the authorities under the Motor Vehicles Act and the Legal Metrology Act for taking appropriate legal action
Result: Writ petitions are disposed of.
JUDGMENT :
As both these writ petitions involve a common issue, they are taken up together for consideration, and disposed by this common judgment.
2. The writ petitioners are essentially aggrieved by the alleged action of autorickshaw drivers, plying within the territorial limits of Kannur district, and coming within the administrative jurisdiction of the Thalassery Municipality and Malappattam Panchayat, in not operating the fare/hire meters installed in their vehicles and thereby charging fares far in excess of that fixed by the State Government under Section 67 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. It is their case in the writ petition that there have been numerous instances where persons have been charged exorbitant rates in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act and Rules, as also in violation of the provisions of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, and since such instances invariably happen at odd hours of the day/night, the passengers often find themselves at the mercy of the erring autorickshaw drivers. The prayers in the writ petitions are for suitable directions to the respective statutory authorities to ensure that the autorickshaw drivers ply their vehicles in due compliance with the statutory provisions as also the Government orders issued from time to time regulating the fare/hire charges that can be collected by them from the traveling public.
3. When these writ petitions came up for orders before this Court, on 27.01.2020, this Court found that the need of the hour was to put in place an emergency response system that would come to the aid of passengers in distress. It therefore directed the official respondents of the State to file affidavits stating clearly the steps taken by them to ensure that an emergency response system would be available to on call to commuters/passengers of autorickshaws on a 24 x 7 basis. In response to the said direction, counter affidavits have now been filed by the Additional Superintendent of Police in charge of District Police Chief, Kannur, the Joint Regional Transport Officer, Thalassery and the Assistant Controller, Department of Legal Metrology, Kannur. In the affidavit filed by the Additional Superintendent of Police, in charge of District Police Chief, Kannur, it is averred as follows in paragraphs 2 and 3:-
2. It is most respectfully submitted that the Police is duty bound to prevent traffic violations and earnest efforts are being taken by Police personnel to redress the grievances of passengers. The various effective measures available to the public/passengers to seek immediate assistance in case of misbehaviour/demand of excess fare charges/refusal to ply the taxi/motor cab and any other offences from the side of the motor cab operators is mentioned herewith.
(a) Control Room System:-Four Control rooms are functioning in the District with 24 Control Room Vehicles. All the control room vehicles plying 24x7 hours throughout their area in addition to the station mobiles to redress the grievances of the public within a short span of time. The station mobile vehicles and control room vehicles conducting thorough vehicle check to curtail the traffic violations and to book the offenders.
(b) Emergency Response Support System -ERSS (Toll Free No. 112):-Instead of dialing different helpline numbers such as Police (100), Fire Force (101) and Ambulance (102), persons in distress across the State can now call on 112 for quick, unified response service. This system started from August 2019 onwards.
The ERSS Project is in line with the recommendations of the Justice Varma Committee in the backdrop of 2012 Delhi gang rape case. All distress calls and text messages to 112 from the entire State will reach at the centralized control room in Thiruvananthapuram and quickly re-routed to the respective district control rooms in less than a minute. Officers at the district control rooms, upon seeing the dist
