TAGGED FOR SAFETY :-SC gives 3 months for smart plates

High-Security Number Plates Can Track Down Stolen Vehicles Through Satellite

Supreme Court on Tuesday set a three-month deadline for the Centre and the state governments to implement high-security registration plates (HSRPs), removing all ambiguity about the mandatory nature of its earlier order on the issue.

The SC had on May 8, 2008, given governments six months to implement the HSRPs after making modifications in the scheme drafted by the Centre. However, most of the states, citing doubts about whether the SC order was mandatory or not, have not implemented it. A Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and A K Ganguly dispelled the doubts outlined by advocate Wasim Qadri, who appeared for the Centre and the Delhi government. It said the states could not sidestep an important public interest measure that was directed to be implemented by the apex court.

The development means that the state governments will soon be getting after the motor vehicle owners to switch to the HSRPs in order to carry out the order.

The court had, in its earlier judgment, dismissed challenges to the scheme holding it to be in public interest. The HSRP can track down stolen vehicles through satellite monitoring since it is fitted with a security chip, thus preventing the misuse of such vehicles in crimes.

‘‘Use of stolen vehicles in crimes, especially terrorism related offences, are increasing steadily and this can be controlled to a large extent by implementation of the HSRP,’’ the court had said earlier. When most of the states did not implement the court’s year-old order, petitioner Maninderjit Singh Bitta moved an application seeking a directive to the governments to take urgent steps. Bitta said that it was a matter of concern that except for a few states none had implemented the high-security registration plates.
Source:- The Times of India 6 May 2009 Page 13 Delhi
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