Implement recommendations on easing traffic in city: HC to state

The Bombay high court directed the state government to start implementing recommendations made by a court-appointed high powered committee (HPC), which had provided a host of measures to solve vehicular traffic problems in the city.

The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the state government to start implementing recommendations made by a court-appointed high powered committee (HPC), which had provided a host of measures to solve vehicular traffic problems in the city.

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“Start implementing the recommendations… don’t wait for our orders,” a division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice Anoop Mohta told assistant government pleader JS Saluja.

The bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Bombay Bar Association seeking strict implementation of traffic rules in the city and increasing the meagre fines that are levied for traffic violations.

Advocate Armin Vandrewala, who has filed an intervention application, opposed some of the recommendations made by the HPC, such as imposing vicarious liability on the owner of the vehicle if the driver commits a traffic offence, introducing a congestion charge and also the idea of stopping registration of new vehicles in the city to limit vehicular density.

The court has directed the transport department to share all electronic data on vehicles and owners to the traffic control branch of the Mumbai police, as recommended by the HPC. It also directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to implement the recommendations on traffic signs and zebra crossings.

The state government had appointed the 11-member HPC, headed by additional chief secretary, home, Amitabh Ranjan, on the orders of the high court, to suggest corrective and remedial measures to ensure a smooth and disciplined flow of vehicular traffic.