List out problems in rules laid for school vehicles: HC

A Full Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice MM Sundresh while passing interim orders on a batch of petitions from Tamil Nadu Nursery, Primary, Matriculation and Higher Secondary Schools Association and eight others, said: “It has, thus been requested to the counsel for the petitioners to collectively submit the major problem in its implementation, which they perceive and the solution thereof, so that the same can be put to the state.” 

The case has its source in the death of 7-year-old Shruthi, a Class 2 student of Zion Matriculation School in Selaiyur in July 2012.

She fell through a hole, which was not properly or strongly covered on the floor of her school bus and was run over by the vehicle on July 26, 2012. 

Following this, the state government, as per the directions of the Madras High Court, had introduced Special Rules in 2012 for all the vehicles operated by schools to ferry students to the school and back home. 

Aggrieved over certain provisions in the set of rules announced by the government, the petitioners in their petition field in the High Court contended that the newly formulated rules were inconsistent and contrary to the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act and Central Motor Vehicles Rules. 

Among many fallacies pointed out, they said requirement for the first step in the foot-board to be not less than 250 mm and not more than 300 mm was impractical as the same would hit the road at speed breakers, pot holes on the road and bumpers.

Also, the insistence for separating the driver’s cabin with grilled partition neither has any rationale or nexus. 

The insistence of three horizontal steel bars on the bus’s exterior preventing emergency exits on the sides and the insistence for emergency exit on the rear of the bus with quick release latches would also be unsafe, the petitioners claimed in their petition. 

The full bench bench on noting that the plea was not really an adversarial litigation, but only expresses some difficulties experienced in implementation, after hearing the schools’ argument posted the case for further hearing to April 20, 2016.