The Madras High Court on Thursday granted an interim stay of the operation of a notification of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), Hyderabad, of April 15 this year in respect of enhanced premium alone for passenger transport vehicle and the basic third party premium. As per the notification, the hike came into effect on April 25.
Justice V.Dhanapalan passed the interim order on petitions by the Federation of Association of Matriculation Higher Secondary Schools (FAMHSS), Federation of Association of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu and the Association of Management of Coimbatore Anna University Affiliated Engineering Colleges.
In the petition, the FAMHSS, represented by its general secretary, S.K.Venkatasala Pandian, said by the impugned notification the premium in respect of passenger transport vehicle had been increased from Rs.235 to Rs.380 and in the case of basic third party premium from Rs.3,160 to Rs.5,220. The authorities had erred in equating school buses being operated by members of the petitioner federation with regular transport buses and levying premium on a par with transport buses.
The federation members were already functioning with great financial constraints. School buses were for students at a nominal cost. The buses were being run with great difficulty. When the matter came up before Justice V.Dhanapalan, notice was taken on behalf of IRDA and Tariff Advisory Committee and insurance companies. It was submitted that an order passed in another petition on April 27 this year was applicable to the present petitioners. Therefore, Mr.Justice Dhanapalan said that following the earlier order, there would be an order of interim stay in respect of the enhanced tariff alone.
