HYDERABAD: A division bench of the High Court on Tuesday directed both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state governments to file their reports on the steps taken by them to implement provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, particularly about the working hours of the drivers of private buses, inspections conducted and action taken on the erring managements.
The bench of acting chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice Shameem Akther was dealing with a PIL filed by KV Subba Reddy from Krishna district, seeking action against the authorities concerned for the loss of lives in the accident involving Diwakar Travels at Moolapadu village in Penuganchiprolu mandal, near Vijayawada, in Krishna district on February 28 this year.
The petitioner said that the failure of the authorities to enforce the law had resulted in the road accident near Vijayawada, and sought directions to the respondent authorities of both the states to frame guidelines for effective implementation of the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act 1988, Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961 and AP Motor Transport Workers Rules, 1963.
After perusing the details, the bench termed it as vague and pointed out that there was no mention of ‘working hours’ of the drivers and action taken against the erring managements. The officials concerned were taking the court orders lightly, the bench remarked.
The government counsel told the court that the government had constituted a committee with officials of various departments for implementation of the provisions of the Act.
Not satisfied with the submissions of the counsel, the bench said that road accidents were taking place due to failure to implement the provisions of law effectively and that the drivers of private buses were forced to work for more than 14 hours a day.