Delhi HC Stays Bull Bar Ban

the Delhi High Court has decided to put a stay on the Centre’s notification that directed all states to take action against all the cars and SUVs that have been fitted with a bullbar till April 18, 2018

In a rather surprising move, the Delhi High Court has decided to put a stay on the Centre’s notification that directed all states to take action against all the cars and SUVs that have been fitted with a bullbar.  This order came from the bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar, who asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to re-examine this matter. Furthermore, it has ordered that no challans can be issued for the usage of bullbars till April 18, which is the next date of hearing.

“Under what power have you issued this notification? Under what law have you issued an advisory to the states to take penal action against the offenders? Till the next date, there would be a stay and no challans will be issued,” the bench said. The High Court went on to say that the Road Transport and Highway ministry hasn’t interpreted the Motor Vehicle Act properly and it needs to submit a detailed reply on this to the court. Earlier, in December last year, the Ministry had written to the Principal Secretaries, Secretaries and Commissioners, Transport of the states, saying “it is brought to your notice that the fitments of crash guards/ bull bar is in contravention of section 52 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and attracts penalty under section 190 and 191 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988”.

“Crash guards or bull bars on the vehicles pose serious safety concerns to the pedestrians as well as occupants of the vehicle. It is therefore requested that states may take strict action against the unauthorized fitment of crash guard/bull bar on the motor vehicles,” it had said.

Mr Arif has a different take on it and has claimed that the Indian government’s decision to ban bullbars has no legality. In an application to the Delhi High Court, he has claimed that there is no rule, law or bye-law dealing with accessories such as crash guards or bull bars, and due to this, the government’s decision to ban bullbars is illegal.

In his application to the court, Mr Arif has also pointed out that fitment of bullbars don’t fall under the purview of Section 52 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which he claims deals with the only modification of a vehicle, and not with after-market fitments such as bullbars.

Now, it’s up to the court to interpret the law in the MVA and decide whether the Indian government ban on bullbars is legally sound. From the initial observations made by the two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court though, it appears as if the court is more in favour of the ban than against it. The matter will be heard on the 6th of February, 2018.

A lot of after-market accessory makers in India are engaged in building bullbars for cars and SUVs. The bullbar is one of the most popular after-market accessories, and the ban – if upheld by the court – is likely to affect a lot of accessory makers adversely. This is why many accessory makers have been up in arms against this decision of the Union road transport ministry.

What can’t be denied though is the fact that bullbars pose a real risk to the life and limb of other road users – especially pedestrians and two-wheeler riders. Bullbars also make crumple zones of cars ineffective. Moreover, the risk of airbags not working as intended during a crash is a real risk, especially on a car fitted with after-market bullbars.

Image Source: India Live Today