KOZHIKODE: The amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act, making it mandatory for city buses also to have doors, is yet to take effect, as the High Court is yet to consider the petition filed by the bus operators to extend the date of implementation. The ultimatum to fix the door ended on July 5, and according to the petition, the court was set to consider the case on July 22. However, the case could not be considered due to the strike by lawyers.
Kozhikode Bus Operators Association joint secretary Mohammed MKP said that nearly 20 per cent of the bus owners had fixed the doors and the rest sought extension. “We took up the matter with Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran and he promised that the government would consider fixing central, automatic doors for city buses, so that an extra employee need not be hired, to man the doors,” he said.
Kerala State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (KeSCPCR) had taken up the matter after schoolchildren repeatedly fell from city buses which had no door when the drivers suddenly braked on roads full of potholes. Commission member Nazeer Chaliyam said that there was even a provision to suspend the registration of the bus. KeSCPCR had directed the Transport Commissioner and Transport secretary to amend the rule that permits city service buses to ply without doors.
However, Kozhikode RTO C.K. Paulson said that the department would not take action against violators, until the High Court gives its final say on the date of implementation. However, he was not aware, whether any of the owners had fixed doors recently.
