The High Court also ordered authorities seize vehicles with car sun film once the deadline is reached
Car owners can be granted 60 days to remove sun film installed on their motor and the vehicles of those who do not adhere to the deadline should be seized, the Madras High Court (HC) has said.
The directive was given by Justices N Kirubakaran (since retired) and B Pugalendhi while hearing a writ petition, which complained of law students using ‘lawyer’ stickers on their vehicles.
Both the State police and transport authorities have been directed to grant 60 days’ time for 4-wheeler owners to remove car sun film and seize vehicles which have tinted windows post the deadline.
The Justices also ordered that a similar time limit should be fixed for removing portraits of political or communal leaders, kept facing outside to exert influence, from the dashboards of vehicles.
Writing the judgement, Justice Kirubakaran said, almost 50 percent of vehicles in Tamil Nadu “either have party flags or designation boards or portraits of party/communal leaders or advocate/press stickers.”
The judges said many vehicles with political party flags or designation boards were said to be involved in criminal activities and added that the purpose of having them is only to keep the police away.
In addition to delivering the above judgement, the Justices also ordered the conduct of random vehicle checks to remove excessively bright motor vehicle lights that flout the rules.
Moreover, the judgement on removal of car sun film within 60 days also included a point about the need to have vehicle number plates in accordance with rules. It directed authorities to give vehicle owners 2 months’ time to fix the number plates of their motor.
Finally, the judges also directed the National Highways Authority of India to ensure that all highways were well lit.