Display registration numbers on VVIP's cars: HC
New Delhi, July 18: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said that every vehicle, including that of top constitutional authorities, should display the registration number.
The order by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar came while disposing of the public interest litigation filed by NGO Nyayabhoomi, which has sought to enforce display of registration numbers on VVIPs' cars.
The detailed order will be released later
The Road Transport and Highways Ministry, in its affidavit filed before the bench in March, had agreed to display of registration numbers on VVIPs' cars and said that it has written to the authorities concerned to get these vehicles registered.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Nyayabhoomi, which stated that the practice of replacing the registration numbers with the national emblem -- three lion heads adapted from the Lion Capital carved on an Ashokan pillar at Sarnath -- is both arbitrary and symptomatic of the desire to rule rather than to serve.
The plea said the practice makes the VVIP cars conspicuous and thus the dignitaries become easy targets for terrorists and anyone with malicious intent.
If a person met with an accident involving such vehicles, he cannot bring any claim against the erring persons due to absence of any identification mark, it added.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
