Curb drunk driving: Hyderabad High Court tells Andhra Pradesh, Telangana

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Friday questioned the governments of TS and AP as to what is being done to curb the menace of people being killed due to drunken driving and told the two states to conduct drunken driving checks on the highways.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice P. Naveen Rao was dealing with a suo motu case based on news reports connected to the ghastly road accident which occurred on March 15, 2016, at Gollapudi in Vijayawada in which four students of the Osmania Medical College were killed and several more students grievously injured due to alleged rash, negligent and drunken driving by the driver.

Justice Bhosale reacting seriously in allowing drivers to drive passenger vehicles on highways in a drunken state and directed the two states to file reports on action being taken to check the menace.

The bench enquired with TS AAG J. Ramachandra Rao which travel company did the bus belong to. The AAG replied that the bus originally belonged to Dhanunjaya Travels and they are trying to ascertain which travel company is its present owner.

The bench told him to ask the authorities to take steps to close the travels company immediately and also initiate criminal action against it. The AAG told the bench that the government was taking steps as per the recommendations of the committee constituted based on the guidelines of the Supreme Court and taking steps to close down all the liquor shops adjacent to highways. The bench adjourned the case for two weeks.