Heavy vehicles movement: Traffic SSP ordered to submit details of accidents

SHC directs Sindh govt, traffic DIG to remove pressure horns from vehicles

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed on Wednesday the Traffic SSP Aijaz Ahmed Sheikh to submit details of road accidents involving heavy vehicles, which took place in the past 15 months in the city.

A two-judge bench, comprising justices Nadim Akhtar and Faheem Ahmed Siddiqui, also ordered the provincial government and traffic DIG to immediately remove illegal and banned pressure horns from the vehicles and take action against the shopkeepers who are selling them.

The directives came on a petition jointly filed by Faisal Bengali and others, against movement of heavy vehicles in the city and through residential localities during daytime. They had also sought enforcement on the orders passed by the Supreme Court in 2007, regarding the ban on the movement of heavy traffic within the city limits between 6am to 11pm.



On Wednesday, the provincial transport and mass transit department secretary Tauha Ahmed Farooqui and traffic South SSP Aijaz Ahmed Sheikh appeared in compliance of the court's orders passed on March 7 and March 23. The secretary filed detailed comments, which were taken on record.

Both the officers informed the judges that they were fully aware of the orders passed by the Supreme Court on August 17, 2007, regarding ban on the movement of heavy vehicles within the city limits between 6am to 11pm. They maintained that all possible steps had been taken by them to implement the orders passed by the high court on March 7 and March 23 in the present proceedings.

The secretary Farooqui and SSP Sheikh undertook to ensure that the orders passed by the SC and the SHC were implemented in the letter and spirit. To the judges' query, the officers conceded that a proper and full-fledged route via Mauripur falling on the Northern Bypass Expressway, as mentioned in the SC's order, was available for the heavy vehicles coming from and going to the upcountry.



The judges observed that in view of availability of such route, the movement of the heavy vehicles within the city, especially through the residential areas, was not justified at all. In addition to the directives given during the previous hearings, the bench directed all the respondents to ensure that the heavy vehicles were not allowed in any part of the city at any time. They clarified that the water tankers or bowser and vehicles carrying commodities of daily use, however, may be allowed as a special case.

To the court's query, the transport secretary disclosed that there was no policy, rule or regulations to regulate and control the number of passenger buses or coaches on a particulate route within a specified time period or during the peak or off-peak hours.

The bench directed the transport secretary, the traffic DIG and other relevant authorities to formulate a proper policy or to frame the rules and regulations in this behalf to avoid number of the passenger coaches or busses on any route. The secretary undertook to produce such a policy, rule or regulation before the court on the next date of hearing.

The court also allowed the petitioners to implead the Karachi commissioner as party in the proceedings and file an amended title of the petition within three days.

Traffic SSP, who was representing the Traffic DIG, informed the bench that the use of the pressure horns was completely banned and illegal.

This led the bench to order the provincial government and traffic DIG to ensure that strict action is taken in accordance with the law against the vehicles that have pressure horns. It further directed the provincial government and police IG to take action against vendors and retailors of the banned and illegal pressure horns. Karachi DIG was directed to submit a report within 15 days regarding action.

The bench also repeated notices to the Defence Housing Authority's administrator and the Clifton Cantonment Board's chief executive officer to file their comments by the next date of hearing. By consent, the next date for hearing was fixed on March 31. The transport secretary and traffic SSP were told to appear in the next date.