Kochi private buses resist Motor Vehicle Department initiative on door shutters

Kochi: The owners of private buses operating in the city and its outskirts have yet again resisted a move by the Motor vehicle Department (MVD) to make door shutters mandatory as part of ensuring passenger safety. The Ernakulam Regional Transport Authority doled out a direction to bus operators last month to fall in line by November six, however, the latter moved the High Court and succeeded in obtaining a stay against implementation of the direction.

“We’re trying to implement the safety measure following mishaps in which passengers had fallen off from the footboard. For instance the one at Kannadikadu in Maradu in May last in which a passenger died after falling from footboard of a private bus. However, the bus owners are resisting it citing one reason or other,” a senior MDV officer said. A government notification was issued in July last amending Rule 280(2) of Kerala Motor Vehicle Rules 1989 removing the exemption of shutters for front and rear doors of city and town services. The bus owners immediately challenged the notification in the High Court arguing that installing normal doors posed operational difficulties and should be replaced by pneumatic doors.

The court asked MVD to file a statement on behalf of the government though it didn’t issue any interim stay on the implementation of the notification except for an oral observation. Meanwhile, sources said the MVD could have implemented its decision in a low-key affair rather than doling out a direction in the RTA meet. “The court had not issued any stay earlier. The MVD could have implemented the decision by taking action on the roads rather than making an official direction. It played into the hands of private bus owners, giving them fresh ground to seek a court stay, which they succeeded in getting,” a senior government official said.
“We’ve also moved the court to get the stay vacated,” he said.