HC appoints court commissioner to report on Bajaj Auto

Mumbai, Feb 20 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today appointed a court commissioner to file a report on whether premier two-wheeler manufacturer, Bajaj Auto was compromising with the safety devices in the manufacturing of a motorcycle.

A division bench comprising of Justices Bilal Nazki and A S Bobde gave direction in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a Jabalpur-based retired Defence Ministry official Gyan Prakash, seeking a ban on registration of motorcycles in Maharashtra.

The court in its order appointed Assistant Public Prosecutor Poornima Kanthariya as the court commissioner, asking her to file report in a week's time.

The petitioner in his petition, while making Bajaj Auto, Union Government and the Maharashtra Government as respondents, had pleaded the court to direct the state government, under section 45 of the Motors Vehicle (MV) Act, not to register motorcycles and also to stop the sale of unsafe motorcycles under section 191 of the Act.

The PIL had also sought court's directives to the motorcycle manufacturers and dealers to provide protective device, covering not less than half of the rear wheel and a permanent hand grip for pillion riders in their motorcycles, citing Maharashtra Motor Vehicle (MMV) rule 166 (4).

The particular rule states that the rear wheel should have a protective device, covering not less than two-third of the rear wheel.

For the safety of motorcycle riders, the Central and the state government have framed rules under section 128 of the MV Act, for compliance during construction and manufacture, but all manufacturers and dealers were violating the law by endangering lives of riders the PIL said.

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