Chief Secretary Ram Sevak Sharma removed red beacons from his official vehicle followed by two bureaucrats — NM Kulkarni and Bimal Kirti Singh days after the Surpeme Court judgement — restricting the use of beacons for the VIPs came.
The heads of two bodies —Jharkhand Academic Council chairman Anand Bhushan and Jharkhand State Electricity Board boss SN Verma — also followed the suit. HRD Secretary K Vidya Sagar, Director, secondary education, Mamta and Divisional Forest Officer Rajiv lochan Bakshi are also said to have shunned the beacons.
But others, including the Jharkhand High Court and the State police headquarters are waiting for the Transport department's guidelines to be issued in the light of the Supreme Court order delivered on December 10. The exercise has to be completed within three months. State police spokesperson Anurag Gupta said that the police headquarters is waiting for the government norms on beacons.
Transport Secretary MR Meena said that the department is in process of formulating the guidelines in view of the Apex Court order. While the Bihar Government is almost ready with the pruned list, the Karnataka Government issued an amended list in June itself restricting the use of beacons.
According to the notification issued by the Karnataka Transport department, the Governor, the Chief Minister and Ministers of Council of Ministers, the chairman of the legislative Council, the Speaker of the State legislative Assembly, the Chief Justice and sitting judges of the High Court of Karnataka are eligible to use red beacons on their official vehicles. The notification came under Rule 108 of the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1989, that empowers the State to specify the dignitaries and the vehicles on which the red lights can be used.
Hence, leaders of the Opposition in the Assembly and Council, the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, the Deputy Chairman of the Council, the Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Boards, the Chief Secretary, the Karnataka lokayukta, Mayors of the City Corporations, chairmen of boards and corporations, Deputy Commissioners, presidents of ZPs and top police officers are not eligible to use them. Under Rule 108 of the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1989, blue light with or without flash can be used only by vehicles escorting high dignitaries specified, said the notification.
In fact, in Jharkhand, there is confusion among bureaucrats over using the yellow/amber lights. They say that the Supreme Court has restricted use of red beacons only. However, a senior official said that the Supreme Court directive is obvious on it.
The SC after, declaring that vehicles fitted with red beacons will be allowed only for constitutional authorities and limited classes of high functionary, also said the men in uniform, operational agencies which require un-hindered access to the roads for performance of their duty, those engaged in emergency duties such as ambulance services, fire services, emergency maintenance etc and police vehicles used for escorts or pilots or for law and order duties shall not be entitled to have red lights but lights of other colours e.g. blue, white, multi-coloured etc "The Supreme Court directive may entitle only a deputy commissioner and Superintendent of Police to use beacons that too of "blue, white and multi-colored," he pointed out.
Kulkarni said that he had gone through the Supreme Court directive carefully and it entitles very few persons holding constitutional posts to beacons. The 2002 notification entitled a Secretary to use yellow beacon light in his official vehicle. "But it has made no difference to my working efficiency since I removed the beacon. The driver might be feeling the pinch as he is not able to break the signal now or indulge in rash driving," he mused.
In Jharkhand, most MlAs, whether from the ruling or Opposition parties, get lal batt treatment, most by virtue of chairing Assembly committees. Each Principal secretary-rank IAS officer also enjoys the facilities of more than one vehicle by virtue of holding charge of more than one department. But then, they are also heavily guarded too. Each Principal Secretary rank officer gets 7 guards (2 for personal security, 5 for home). The IPS officers are not behind in using the security guards. However, senior IAS officers-Sudhir Prasad and Sukhdev Singh-are the exceptions in this regard.