Women Safety: Bombay High Court Seeks State's Reply On Plea Alleging Public Vehicles Registered Without Mandatory Tracking Devices, Panic Buttons

A writ petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court highlighting a major deviation from the rules which can compromise the safety of women in Maharashtra as the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) have been approving and registering public service vehicles such as buses, cabs, autorickshaws etc even if they have not installed the Vehicle Location Tracking Devices (VLTD).

Notably, after the December 2012 Delhi gang rape case infamously known as the 'Nirbhaya' case in a moving bus, the Central Government set up the Nirbhaya Fund, a non-lapsable fund for projects that improve the safety of women. One such project is the tracking of public passenger vehicles.

"The idea is simple, every bus, cab and other public service vehicle carries a tracking device with panic buttons. If a passenger is in danger and presses a panic button, an alert with the vehicle's live location reaches the State's monitoring centre and emergency response system, so help can be sent. The system protects a passenger only if two things are true: the device is physically fitted and working in that vehicle, and the Government's records correctly link that device to that vehicle. If either fails, the panic button connects to nothing," explained the petitioner's counsel Atal Dubey.

According to the petitioner Om Auto Tech - a distributor of the AIS-140 compliant VLTD, it has noticed from June 2025, that numerous such public service vehicles have been registered even if they do not have a proper VLTD installed. Further, it was noticed that numerous vehicles were renewed without verifying if the VLTDs were installed or not, or whether the said VLTDs were operational or not. 

Soon thereafter, the petitioners informed the same to the Transport Commissioner, who issued directives in July and August 2025 for strict compliance with the installation of VLTD and yet the said condition was being flouted by the RTOs. 

"The petitioners are constrained to approach this Court on account of the arbitrary and unlawful conduct of the officers of various Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) under the Transport Department of the State, who have acted in clear violation of the mandatory provisions of the Motor Vehicles framework by approving and registering at least 10 vehicles without verifying the physical presence and functional condition of AIS-140 compliant VLTD and by renewing the fitness certificates of numerous vehicles without ensuring the validity and operation status of such devices. Such actions not only defeat the statutory safety regime but also obstructs the petitioner's lawful business activities and undermines the integrity of the regulatory framework," the plea reads.

The plea states that installation of the VLTD is mandated by the Central Government under of rule 125H of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 by amending it on October 25, 2018. Therefore, the plea seeks a direction to the respondent authorities to strictly implement the said mandate. A further directive is sought for action against officers for approving registration and renewal of public service vehicles without verifying if the VLTD has been installed or not. 

The matter was listed before a division bench of Justice Ajay Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata on Wednesday (September 30), which has issued notice to the State. The judges have asked the State to file its reply to the plea within two weeks. 

The matter is likely to be listed for hearing after two weeks.