The Kerala High Court on Friday declined to pass an interim order staying the implementation of the Transport Commissioner’s circular on new regulations for driving schools and tests. Justice Kausar Edappagath observed that a perusal of the circular prima facie showed that “the instructions therein do not run counter to, but appear to be harmonious with the provisions of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules and to bring standard in driving test in the light of the increasing number of road accidents, considering public safety, which is the prime object of the Motor Vehicles Act”.
The court passed the order when a batch of writ petitions filed by the Kerala Motor Driving School Instructors and Workers Association, Driving School Owners Samiti and others came up for hearing. The petitioners argued that only the Union government has the authority to frame rules for driving tests and license issuance and not the Transport Commissioner. If the circular was implemented, it would substantially affect the rights of the driving school operators as well as the aspirants for licence.
The court observed that the circular aimed at streamlining the driving test procedure in accordance with Rule 15 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules that test the competence in driving motor vehicles. It appeared that the instructions in the circular were issued considering the innovative improvements in vehicular mechanism and engineering, traffic conditions, increasing road accidents and the necessity to provide driving instructions according to the syllabus outlined in Rule 31 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules.
