The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre and all States, asking them to show cause why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for violating its order on implementing the High Security Number Plates (HSNP) scheme for motor vehicles.
A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and J.S. Khehar issued the notice last week on the petition of Maninderjit Singh Bitta.
It was on his plea that the court had passed a series of orders on February 2, 2012 to the Centre and States.
In the present petition, Mr. Bitta said their disobedience and disregard were shocking and wilful.
He said the court had repeatedly emphasised that the HSNP scheme was in the interest of public safety and national security, and must be implemented without delay or demur. But several States, under the guise of implementing the order, were violating it and committing illegal acts. Mr. Bitta alleged that senior officials had acted with mala fide intentions to favour private companies. They had “knowingly sought to flout /disregard /dilute the directions issued by this court in complicity with certain dealers/entities” who had flouted the scheme for fixing the HSNP on vehicles.
