Film-removing time again

Chandigarh, June 16: With the city police all set to challan motorists with dark films on the glasses of their vehicles, motorists are qu...

Chandigarh, June 16: With the city police all set to challan motorists with dark films on the glasses of their vehicles, motorists are queueing up to get the films removed. Challaning starts on Friday.

While the motorists looked confused about the kind of films permitted, Superintendent of Police Traffic and Security Balbir Singh, when contacted, said that no film will be allowed on the glasses of cars or buses.

He stressed that government vehicles would not be spared. He added that the tinted glasses, which come with certain cars, will be exempted.

He pointed out that according to the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court: quot;Use of black films on the glasses of the car or use of dark glasses is neither permissible nor can otherwise be termed as proper. This only obstructs the clear vision of the driver on all sides resulting in avoidable driving error causing accidents. Thus, we direct that no vehicle, light or heavy, shall have black films or black glasses.quot;

It added that all government and private vehicles shall strictly comply with the condition.

quot;The only exception being where the Director General of Police of the concerned state or union territory or an officer duly authorised by him in this behalf not below the rank of Additional Director General of Police issues a certificate under his seal and signature that car of the concerned persons/VIP should be permitted to have such films or glasses to avoid serious security hazardous to the said persons. This again would be restricted to the official car allotted to such person.quot;

The police official added that after the UT Administration filed a special leave petition against the judgment of the High Court, the Supreme Court in December, 1998, observed: quot; 8230; we make it clear that the ban on use of films or glasses is not stayed but only buses and cars are permitted to have light coloured tinted glasses and not films.quot;

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Interestingly, the police say that those driving with curtains will not be challaned even as the police officials agreed that they too obstructed visibility of the driver.

Meanwhile, the police are all set for a massive drive on Friday particularly against the films on the glasses. The police have divided the city into 33 points for the purpose, each of which will be under the charge of an inspector or a sub-inspector; additional force has been drawn force from the police stations.

The sub-divisional police officers SDPOs will supervise the areas under their respective divisions.