Taking a kind of U-turn on its earlier decision to voluntary wearing helmets for people driving two-wheelers in the state’s urban areas, the Gujarat government said in an affidavit filed in the High Court here today No government order or circular has been issued. Earlier on December 4, State Transport Minister RC Faldu said that the state cabinet has decided to make helmets voluntary instead of mandatory for urban areas.
The government has done this keeping in mind the demand of the people. After this, on the rebuke of the Committee on Road Safety of the Supreme Court, he later said that the decision to make helmets voluntary is temporary. Later, a resident of Surat, Sanjeev Bhargava had filed a PIL in the High Court here challenging the elimination of the helmet as an open violation of the amended Motor Vehicles Act. The government, during a hearing on this, had verbally argued in the court on 27 January that it had not issued any order or circular to end the mandatory helmet and make it voluntary. He had made a rule in the state to make helmets compulsory for the driver as well as those who sit in the back.
The court had asked the government to file an affidavit or affidavit in the matter by January 30, that is, till today. The state government has now reiterated those points by filing a five-page affidavit before the court of Chief Justice Vikram Natha and Justice AJ Shastri, who is hearing the case.
Gujarat govt’s U-turn in helmet case; not passed any order to make it voluntary
