[1]The Madras high court on Wednesday came down heavily on the state for its delay in approving the draft rules to regulate the use of vehicles carrying school-going children.
“It is unfortunate that in such a serious matter, despite an assurance given by advocate general A. Navaneethakrishnan to produce before us the draft rules without seeking any further adjournments, till date the draft rules have not been produced before us,” said a division bench comprising Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and justice A. Arumughaswamy.
The Bench made the above observation after the advocate general requested the court to grant some more time to produce the draft rules.
The Bench stated that on the last two occasions, it had been pleaded that the draft rules had to be approved by the cabinet.
It has also been brought to the notice of the court that after the incident which was subject matter of this petition, five more accidents involving deaths of school children had taken place. “It is time the draft rules be produced before the court. Post on September 3,” the bench added.
The bench, which had suo motu taken note of the death of six-year-old Shruthi, who on July 27 had fallen through a hole on the floor of her school bus and run over, had directed the government to produce the draft rules before it.
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