Court asks govt if motor vehicle data can be integrated to track violations

The issue was brought to court by Hemant Jain, who filed an application in a pending public interest litigation (PIL) filed by S Rajaseekaran dealing with road safety.

The Supreme Court has sought the Centre’s response on the feasibility of having all information about motor vehicles on a single platform for swift electronic surveillance of traffic violations and data integration of overaged, uninsured and polluting vehicles.

The application cited data available on the government portals that showed significant non-compliance under the MV Act provisions. (HT Photo)

In an order passed on Tuesday, a bench headed by justice Abhay S Oka noted that the data on vehicle registration, insurance status, pollution compliance and speed limiting devices is fragmented and available on multiple platforms that are not interlinked, and sought to know if this could be remedied.

The issue was brought to court by Hemant Jain, who filed an application in a pending public interest litigation (PIL) filed by S Rajaseekaran dealing with road safety. Jain pointed out that, in the absence of an integrated system to monitor and regulate compliance, authorities face challenges in identifying offenders, tracking trends, and implementing corrective measures in a timely manner.

Issuing a notice on the application, the bench, also comprising justice Ujjal Bhuyan, said, “Response of Union government and others shall be placed on record in the form of counter affidavit by March 17.” The court directed a copy of the application to be supplied to senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal, who is assisting the court in the matter as amicus curiae. The Centre’s response will be taken up on March 24, it said.

On September 2 last year, the top court passed an order directing all states and Union territories to implement Section 136A of the Motor Vehicles Act. This provision mandates the use of electronic surveillance tools such as speed cameras, CCTVs, speed guns, speed governors and automatic number plate recognition systems to curb road accidents.

The application, argued by advocate Kishan Chand Jain, said that the lack of a cohesive data structure not only impeded the enforcement authorities from keeping road accidents under check, but also resulted in widespread non-compliance with traffic regulations, besides contributing to heightened levels of vehicular pollution.

At present, various government portals host data such as VAHAN for vehicle registration, SARATHI for driving licenses, the Insurance Information Bureau (IIB) for vehicle insurance, and the Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) database, which are disjointed. Jain said that leveraging the existing digital infrastructure, the law enforcement agencies can automate e-challans, track non-compliant vehicles, and identify overaged or uninsured motor vehicles with precision.

“The absence of a unified approach to data management creates gaps in accountability, leading to an overall inability to address critical safety concerns comprehensively,” he said.

The application cited data available on the government portals that showed significant non-compliance under the MV Act provisions. According to his submissions, out of 21.8 million transport vehicles, only 1.07 million were fitted with mandatory speed limiting devices (SLD) and of the 385 million registered motor vehicles, only 175 million had valid insurance.