Days after a fire in a moving bus near Greater Noida killed nine people, the Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government on how a vehicle with a history of traffic violations and around ₹1.75 lakh in unpaid challans continued to operate across states, raising concerns over passenger safety and enforcement.
A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan directed the UP chief secretary and the secretary, ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), to respond on the action taken against the bus driver and registered owner.
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“We direct the chief secretary of UP and the secretary, ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) to file a response indicating what steps have been taken against the bus driver and the registered owner of the bus,” the bench said.
The order was passed on an application by advocate Kishan Chand Jain in a public interest litigation concerning road safety. Jain told the court that the September 23 accident involving a double-decker bus highlighted how repeat traffic offenders could continue operating on roads despite outstanding penalties.
According to Jain, the sleeper bus operated by Raj Kalpana Travels was travelling from Delhi to Mahoba and had prior challans carrying outstanding fines of around ₹1.75 lakh. “If correct, this means that a vehicle repeatedly found in violation continued to ply an inter-state route at night with passengers asleep, without its permit or fitness being suspended,” his application stated.
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Taking note of the issue, the bench asked whether the driver and owner had been arrested and whether the owner had complied with all rules before operating the double-decker.