Kerala high court bans minibuses

KOCHI: Kerala high court on Monday cited violation of safety norms to ban use of four-wheeler stage-carriage mini buses for ferrying commuters.
Justice V Chitambaresh gave the order while considering a batch of petitions filed by owners of four-wheeler minibuses, challenging a government order denying renewal of permit to ply such vehicles.
Though the owners of the vehicles contended that, denying permits to four-wheeled stage carriage vehicles was discriminatory, as four wheeler vehicles such as cars were plying on Kerala roads, the judge disagreed, pointing out that the increased height of the minibuses caused safety hazard.
Senior government pleader P M Saneer, who appeared in the case, submitted that the decision to deny permits to four-wheeler minibuses was adopted by the state transport authority at a meeting held at Thiruvananthapuramon March 3, 2009.
The authority took the decision upholding the safety of the passengers as well as the public, said the government counsel.
Transport department issued an order discontinuing stage carriage permits for minibuses.
This was following a judgment of the high court on October 21, 2004, asking the state government to examine the pros and cons of issuing stage carriage permits to vehicles with four wheels and pass appropriate orders.
After a study conducted as per the court's direction, transport department had concluded that passengers in four-wheeled minibuses, especially those standing, may not be a stable load and so the weight of the passengers might tilt the centrifugal force while negotiating curves or even while overtaking a vehicle.
The department's order was issued after considering the fact that overloading of a vehicle could not be controlled with the existing infrastructure of the department at all times.
Upholding the government's decision, the court has directed that stage carriage permits granted to four-wheeled minibuses need not be renewed from March 31 this year.