Supreme court orders government to limit beacons, ban sirens except for emergency services

NEW DELHI: The supreme court today ordered the government to severely curtail the use of beacons except by constitutional heads and also completely ban use of sirens.

Sirens, the top court said, could only be used by emergency services such as fire, ambulance, and police while on duty. The two-judge bench, comprising justices G.S. Singhvi and Kurian Joseph, passed the order after a suggestion to this effect yesterday was ignored.

The court had yesterday asked all govts to on their own do this, but was today told that no government was willing to bell the cat. Today, the bench told all govts to amend the rules to curb the number of categories allowed to use beacons.

The bench also directed them to consider imposing exemplary fines and impounding vehicles in cases of misuse.

"Even now a small section of society thinks of itdelf as special as compared to ordinary citizens. This happens to be the reason why govts have authoried use of beacons.

"It is imperative therefore that the use of beacons by govt and non-govt vehicles be drastically curtailed so that the people's right of freedom to be treated on par with others is not hindered," the bench said.

The court has been dealing the issue suo motu.