Himachal HC upholds ban on school vehicles older than 15 years

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has upheld the state rule prohibiting educational institutions from using vehicles over 15 years old to transport students and staff, holding that student safety cannot be weighed against the financial burden of replacing older vehicles, the Indian Express reported.

The high court backed the clause (xi) of Rule 73-A (1) A of the Himachal Pradesh Motor Vehicles Rules, 1999, which bars vehicles over 15 years old from transporting students and staff of any educational institutions , the report read.

Meanwhile, the educational institutions said that “a vehicle's age did not establish whether it was roadworthy, but the high court said that student safety could not be measured in monetary terms,” the report said.

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Stating that “students' life is far more precious” than monetary considerations, the court said that any vehicle over 15 years old from transporting students and staff of any educational institutions, the report added.

“The life of the young generation is far more precious than the monetary considerations of the petitioners. One fatal incident on account of an aged vehicle can ruin and shatter the lives of families forever. Said loss cannot be compensated in any terms whatsoever. Prohibitive steps to minimise the occurrence of such incidents cannot be equated with economics, as the petitioners are praying this court to do,” the HP high court said in the report.

Any “prudent” step taken by the state government to ensure the safety of students must be protected unless it was so arbitrary that it “shocks the judicial conscience” of the court, the report said.

Furthermore, schools and institutions have claimed that the rule was illegal as the 15-year condition had been set without any rationale, ignoring whether the vehicle in question was actually roadworthy, the report read.

They also alleged that the rule also ignored the economic viability of institutions, which were not in a position to replace the vehicles that were being used for over 15 years, it said.

“The institutions claimed that they had private service vehicle permits for the vehicles, which were only being used to pick up and drop students and staff, covering a very minimal distance daily,” the report added.

The government could not “create a class” between vehicles being run by the state or private operators for transporting passengers and those plied by educational institutions, because students also travelled in government vehicles or other private vehicles that were over 15 years old, educational institutions said.