Court directive on TV sets in cars

The Madras High Court has ordered that transport and police authorities are liable to act as per the official memos against the installation of television sets and DVDs on the dashboard of cars which distracted drivers.

The action taken after issue of the memos should be submitted in the form of a status report to the court.

The Bench passed the order on a public interest litigation petition by V.S.Suresh, an advocate. The petitioner said there was no provision in law for installing a television set or DVD player near the driver’s seat; but in private and tourist cabs, the equipment had been fixed violating the statute. This not only distracted the drivers but also others leading to road accidents.

Mr.Suresh said he sent representations to the transport and police authorities in July last year to take action against the violators. He received copies of the memos issued by the RTOs, Cuddalore and Dindigul to the MVIs to inspect cars and file a report. But no action had been taken by the authorities pursuant to the memos.

The Bench observed there should be some material as evidence of violation of the memos so that the court could call upon the authorities to implement the instructions.