SC issues notices to Centre

New Delhi, Feb 19 (UNI) The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Centre and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Kerala state governments on a PIL seeking directions to stop the illegal charges by the authorities under the garb of issuing 'Smart Optical Card' based vehicle registration certificates.

This has lead to defalcation of crores of rupees of public money by two international companies who have the patent for these cards, the petition said.

A Bench comprising Justices B N Agarwal and P P Naolekar also issued notices to the two international companies namely Zodiac Comnpany Pvt. Ltd. and Shonkh International Ltd. on a petition filed by Advocate Arvind Kumar Tiwari. The court admitted the petition based on a series of newspaper reports exposing the scandal which was being perpetrated by the two companies in collusion with the authorities under the Motors Vehicle Act.

The petitioner has also contended that Delhi implemented the scheme in January 2005, Uttar Pradesh in 2007, Gujarat enforced it in 2002, Maharashtra in 2004 and Kerala has decided to follow suit.

Vehicle registration fees, which is Rs 200, has been enhanced to Rs 370-395 under the Smart Card scheme.

UNI