The Kerala Cabinet on Wednesday decided to immediately stop the use of red beacons on vehicles used by the chief minister and other government officials. The decision follows the Union Cabinet’s April 19 directive to disallow dignitaries, ministers, central government employees, lawmakers and judges from using red beacons atop their official cars from May 1.
State Transport Commissioner S Anandakrishnan, however, has recommended that the local administration should urge the Centre to relax its new rules against the use of red beacons on official vehicles, Manorama Online reported. The report by the state transport commissioner said the local government should push for permission to use read beacons during “emergencies”.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led government decided against using red beacons after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The state Cabinet also decided to display registration number plates of the vehicles used by state ministers instead of the special numbers allotted to them.
The Union Cabinet’s new rule also applies to the president, vice president, prime minister, chief justice of India and Lok Sabha Speaker.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that the only exception would be emergency services like ambulances, police vehicles and fire brigades, which would use a “blue light”. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister’s Office had held a meeting to discuss the matter, according to The Times of India. The Road Transport Ministry had offered three solutions to end the “laal batti” culture, one of which was to do away with red beacons altogether. The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi was the first to ban the use of red beacons. Recently, the Congress government in Punjab and the current dispensation in Uttar Pradesh followed suit.
In December 2013, a bench of justices GS Singhvi and C Nagappan asked states to amend the Motor Vehicle Rules and restrict the use of “laal battis”. The court had asked states to levy a hefty fine on those misusing it, according to The Indian Express.
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