SC Orders Black Film Removed From All Cars

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday pulled up the Delhi Police for sparing the rich in the enforcement of its order to remove black films from the windscreens and windows of all cars. “People who are suffering are from the middle class. All the cars belonging to rich people involved in the accidents have their glasses covered by black films,” said the apex court bench of Justice A.K. Patnaik and Justice Swatanter Kumar.

“You better tell your police officers to enforce our order across the board,” Justice Swatanter Kumar told Additional Solicitor General Gourab Banerji.
The court was hearing a batch of applications seeking modification and clarification of its April 27 order banning the use of coloured films on windscreens and window glasses of all vehicles throughout the country.
While reserving its order on all the applications by the manufacturers of the tint films, the court said that according to the rule what was permitted was a glass and nothing could be pasted on it.
The court said that in terms of the Rule 100(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, 70 percent visual light transmission (VLT) standard for the front and rear windshield and 50 percent VLT standard for the side windows were related to the manufacture of the safety glasses.
The tint film manufacturers said that the orders were passed without affording them a hearing. They contended that as consequence of this order their business was folding up.
The court said that it had not disturbed the Rule 100(2) but had only interpreted it. The court said that if the manufacturers had any problem with the interpretation then they could approach the law makers. “If you want to tell us that the rule is not in public interest or otherwise then go to the legislature,” said Justice Patnaik.
The court said that what law permitted was just the glass and nothing could be pasted on it. “There may be better or cheap alternatives to glass but we can do only what the rule says,” the court said.
Senior counsel Soli Sorabjee appearing for Garware Polyester sought the clarification on that part of the judgment which said that “we prohibit the use of black films of any VLT percentage or any other material”.
The court said that it would address the clarification sought by Sorabjee.

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