In an important ruling, a division bench of the High Court comprising Justices PK Jaiswal and Alok Verma here on Tuesday stayed the district administration’s order on compulsory wearing of a helmet for filling petrol in two-wheelers at the petrol pumps. With this ruling, from now onward, wearing of helmet would not be binding on the two-wheeler riders for filling petrol in their vehicles. The division bench, while taking up this petition for hearing on Monday, had reserved its decision on the legal validity of the Indore district collector’s ‘no helmet, no petrol’ order.
The district administration’s fiat on ‘No helmet, no petrol’ had been challenged in the Madhya Pradesh High Court (Indore bench) on April 1 with advocate Saurabh Mishra filing a Public Interest litigation (PIl) claiming it to be ultra vires to the provisions of the State and Central Governments’ Motor Vehicle Act and Essential Commodities Act.
In a reply to the court, the Government’s advocate said, “The directions were issued on the directive of the State Government and are in interest of safety of people.” However, the petitioner argued that the collector did not have the power to issue such orders contravening the State or Central Government law. “If any such order has to be enforced, the law should be amended accordingly,” the petitioner had contended.
Following the State-wide order issued by the Government, district collector Akash Tripathi on March 25 had issued orders under the MP Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel Oil (Regulation and Control) Order, 1980, directing fuel pump operators to sell petrol only to consumers wearing helmet. The collector in his notification further said that noncompliance of its order would invite disciplinary action against the petrol pump employees and proprietors under section 3/7 of Essential Commodities Act 1955.
The petitioner in his PIl had contended that under the Section 3(2) of Essential Commodities Act 1955, a seller cannot impose any precondition on consumer/buyer hence the order is ultra vires of the Act.