The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday banned mention of designation and profession on private as well as government vehicles in the tricity. The police have been asked to enforce the ban within 72 hours.

With this order, the display of designation/description of office (including words like high court, army, police, journalist, doctor, etc.), unauthorised emblems on all vehicles has been prohibited. The court, however, clarified that the ban will not apply on parking stickers issued by different organisations and entities.

The order was passed justices Rajiv Sharma and Amol Rattan Singh during the resumed hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) on the traffic-related issues of tricity. After the hearing, justice Sharma also asked his staff members to remove any such description from his official vehicle. Justice Sharma was part of a bench in Uttarakhand high court where a similar order was passed in July 2018. “All are equal on the road and should be treated so. In some cases, people even write neighbour of MLA, former MLA to overawe others. All this should stop,” the court observed.

UT POLICE TOLD TO TOW IDLE VEHICLES FROM ROADS

The court also ordered that idle vehicles parked on the main as well as tertiary roads should be towed away forthwith. The court observed that the practice not only result in congestion, but also increases chances of accidents. Traffic police have also been asked to carry out drives to dissuade residents from encroaching upon green spaces and parking vehicles on the road.

The high court also directed that all CCTVs in school buses should be checked to ensure that only buses with two doors are allowed to ferry schoolchildren.

The high court also gave 90 months to Chandigarh MC to finalise parking policy. One month has been given to prepare the policy and another 30 days for inviting suggestions. The process of notification is to be completed within 90 days. However, court asked the MC to place it before court before notifying it.