A day after Chief Justice of India JS Khehar set an example by removing the red beacon from his vehicle, all judges of the Orissa High Court followed suit and came to the court on Friday without the red light on their official vehicles. In fact, three judges had removed it on Thursday itself following the Centre’s decision to do away with the VIP culture.
Although the Centre had given a deadline to remove the red beacons till May 1, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was among the first dignitary of the State to follow it immediately by ordering removal of the beacon atop his vehicle on Wednesday evening.
While some judges of the High Court came to the court on Thursday with red beacon atop their vehicles, Justices Indrajit Mohanti, Dr BR Sarangi and Shatrughna Pujahari were the first among the judges of the court who had removed the beacon in the morning.
Other VIPs, who have their offices in Cuttack like the Member, Board of Revenue, Secretary, Board of Revenue, Inspector General of Registration, Financial Advisor of Audit, several Commissioners, including RDC and the district Collector too have removed the red light from their vehicles.
Welcoming the decision, a Judge of the High Court speaking to this correspondent also suggested doing away with the personal security of the judges to curb the VIP culture. He, however, went to add that the Government should regularly review the threat perception to the judges and provide adequate security as per the ‘need-to-have’ basis.
It may be mentioned that the Odisha Government way back in 2013, just after the Supreme Court’s observation that red light atop the vehicles of dignitaries is contrary to Constitutional ethos, had made a move to ban the red beacon for the VIPs other than the Constitutional heads like the Governor, the Chief Minister, the Speaker and the Chief Justice.
But the move was stalled midway following widespread objections from several quarters.
It was then estimated that over 4,000 dignitaries of the State other than the police personnel were using the red beacon atop their official as well as private vehicles. Most of them were politicians, including Zilla Parishad Presidents and Vice-Presidents, Mayors and Deputy Mayors.