THE HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE ALOK ARADHE AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE J.SREENIVAS RAO PUBLIC INTERST LITIGATION Nos.462, 466 and 467 of 2013 COMMON ORDER: (Per the Hon’ble the Chief Justice Alok Aradhe)

Mr. P.V.Krishnaiah, learned counsel for the petitioner in PIL.No.462 of 2013.

Mr. S.Rahul Reddy, learned Special Government Pleader attached to the office of learned Additional Advocate General for respondent Nos.1 and 2 in PIL.Nos.462 and 466 of 2013 and respondent Nos.1, 2 and 3 in PIL.No.467 of

2013.

2. In PIL.No.462 of 2013, the petitioner inter alia has prayed for a direction to the respondents to forthwith conduct an independent enquiry as well as to pay compensation to kith and kin of passengers who died or sustained injuries in road accidents which took place on 16.06.2012 and 30.10.2013 on Hyderabad-Shiridi road and in Mahaboobnagar District.

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3. In PIL.No.466 of 2013, the petitioner seeks a writ of Mandamus to respondents to take stringent action and stop all the private buses in the State of Andhra Pradesh, which are operating as stage carriages by violating the contract carriage permits. The petitioner also has prayed for a direction to respondents to make payment of compensation to the kith and kin of the victims who have died in the Volvo bus accident occurred on 30.10.2013 at Palem Village in Mahabubnagar District.

4. In PIL.No.467 of 2013, the petitioner prays for a direction to respondent Nos.1 to 8 to prevent plying of contract carriage vehicles as stage carriages. The petitioner also seeks a direction to the respondents to prevent carrying unaccompanied luggage in the passenger transport vehicles and to implement speed control of the passenger vehicles as per provisions of Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, apart from fixing Emergency Exit doors and remove extra seating. The petitioner further seeks a direction to remove films from the windows of all the buses. The factual background in which the aforesaid reliefs have been sought for in these ::3::

public interest litigations need mention, which are stated infra.

5. Facts giving rise to filing of these public interest litigations in nutshell are that a Volvo bus bearing registration No.AP 02 TA 0963 was being operated by Jabbar Travels, Bangalore, which was coming from Bangalore towards Hyderabad. The aforesaid vehicle which was carrying 45 passengers including a little child met with an accident at 5.00 A.M. on 30.10.2013 on National Highway No.44 at Bheema Culvert, Palem (V), Kothakota (M), Mahabubnagar District as the bus hit the culvert on the median. Due to aforesaid accident, the sparks emerged fire emanated and flames engulfed the bus from all sides, which resulted in death of 45 passengers including a little child and injuries to 6 passengers. The dead bodies were charred to death and were almost unidentifiable. In the wake of the aforesaid horrific accident, the petitioners have approached this Court by filing the writ petitions as public interest litigations and have sought the reliefs referred to supra.

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6. The Transport Commissioner had conducted a meeting with the officials of the Volvo company on 05.11.2013 to point out the possible inadequacies in the technical and safety aspects of the vehicle so that the company will come out with the required rectifications.

7. A complaint was also registered in Kothakota Police Station vide Crime No.193/2013 and the State Government vide G.O.No.1068 dated 30.10.2013 of TR & B (TR1) Department appointed Sri S.A.V.Prasada Rao, Joint Transport Commissioner (IT, E & RS) to conduct preliminary enquiry. The State Government vide G.O.No.1106 dated 07.11.2013 of TR & B (TR1) Department had also appointed two I.A.S. Officers namely Sri Raymond Peter and Sri Prem Chandra Reddy to submit a detailed report on the accident.

8. The report submitted on the road accident has been annexed with the counter affidavit wherein it has been concluded that accident took place due to rash and negligent driving of the vehicle by the d