Lakshadweep ‘no vehicle day’ order won’t be implemented for now, Kerala HC told

Kochi: The Lakshadweep administration has informed high court that it has decided not to enforce the order declaring Wednesdays as ‘no vehicle day' across the Union Territory until further notice.Lakshadweep administration's standing counsel made the submission in response to a PIL filed by Angel Sharon of Varapuzha in Ernakulam. The petitioner mainly challenges the district collector's Feb 17 order which was to come into force on Feb 25. Under the order, only vehicles used by persons with disabilities and those deployed for security and emergency medical purposes would be exempted. Violations would attract a fine of Rs 500.
During hearing, the bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice V M Syam Kumar noticed that another petition on the same matter is pending before a single bench, in which the standing counsel for the Union Territory had submitted that the impugned order would not be implemented until the Ramzan period is over. However, the Lakshadweep administration has now decided not to implement the order until further notice.Taking note of the submission, the division bench adjourned the PIL to March 19 to enable the Lakshadweep administration to file an affidavit disclosing its stand on the issue. HC also ordered that the petition pending before the single bench be tagged with the PIL so that both matters can be heard together by the division bench. Accordingly, the bench directed the high court registry to tag the pending petition with the PIL.