[Sunilrj]

MANGALORE: The newly formed Car Owners and Consumers' Association (COCA) will file a petition in the Supreme Court to review the ban on use of the tint films on four wheelers.

The review petition will be filed by advocate Padma Prasad Hegde when the court re-opens after vacation. He told TOI that court banned films on the basis of a PIL filed by Avishek Goenka without hearing other parties involved. There are lakhs of consumers and car owners who use these films, who were not heard at the time of passing the order. The matter should have been given wide publicity before passing the order,'' he said.

In areas like the coast where temperatures are high, tint films are needed to cut the harshness of the sun and also improve cooling efficiency. In the absence of which more fuel will be spent on cooling. Moreover, we are not asking for dark tints, but within the permissible limits of the Motor Vehicle Act,'' he said.

A bench of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar went by the limits prescribed in the MV Act and said anything beyond the visual light transmission (VLT) limit of 70% for the front and rear windshields and 50% for the side windows would be punishable.

Hegde noted that denying application of tint film, where the VLT between the manufactured glass and tint film is same, is unreasonable. Not all can afford manufactured glass which costs a packet,'' he added.

The decision came on a PIL filed by Avishek Goenka, who had complained that cars with black film on window panes were being increasingly used for crimes, including sexual assault of women. Hegde said: We want to place all facts on record before the court.

Association president Mukesh Hegde said that barring safety glass on all cars, only high end cars came with tinted glass. Tinted films are affordable by all and within VLT should be allowed,'' he said.


All Consumers and car Owners may Visit this Site: Car owners & consumers association for More Information / details.

[Ketan]

Great initiative! They should listen if its a valid point.
What do you think how car owners/consumers from other part of the country can help here!!

[phamilyman]

great initiative - finally someone had the sense.
but its a bit amusing to read "In areas like the coast where temperatures are high", considering that primary school geography lessons differentiate between a coastal climate (see link for a related definition) or a continental climate like Delhi or actually parts of Rajasthan where the heat is searing.

That said, have crimes against women actually stopped or reduced? That would be the real litmus test of Mr Goenka's ill-founded argument and the consequent judgement.

[Sunilrj]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

great initiative - finally someone had the sense.
but its a bit amusing to read "In areas like the coast where temperatures are high", considering that primary school geography lessons differentiate between a coastal climate (see link for a related definition) or a continental climate like Delhi or actually parts of Rajasthan where the heat is searing.

That said, have crimes against women actually stopped or reduced? That would be the real litmus test of Mr Goenka's ill-founded argument and the consequent judgement.

Coastal Climate is Humid. so even if its 25 degrees and the Humidity is 70% the temperature would feel like its 32 deg.c. on the other hand in continental areas, its dry heat.. i may be wrong as i left my Geography text book in Class 10!

as regards what other car owners / consumers can do to support ? probably join the Blog / comment here and form similar associations and be a party to the appeal ?

[PatchyBoy]

I may be overly cynical here, but the reasoning given in that website leaves a lot to be desired.

Except for points 1 & 3 and point 2 partially, none of the other points are valid arguments and cannot be substantiated in the court of law. Sun Control Film which complies to the 70/50 specification, will not fulfil any of the other points.

Rajan

[vikrantj]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

I may be overly cynical here, but the reasoning given in that website leaves a lot to be desired.

Except for points 1 & 3 and point 2 partially, none of the other points are valid arguments and cannot be substantiated in the court of law. Sun Control Film which complies to the 70/50 specification, will not fulfil any of the other points.

Rajan

Disagree with you completely. My privacy and personal space is a fundamental right given to me by Constitution. I am not referring to those total black or reflective type of sun films (one which are used by local goons and henchmen), but a light shaded sunfilm does give a some privacy.
A sunfilm keeps my laptop etc away from casual glances of the passer-bys so I can leave them in the car if I have to make some quick stops and not lug them around.
This is also required by women drivers to keep away those peeping glances fellow car drivers give when they see them driving. It is sad but it is true. Especially at night if a lady driver has to drive on her own it sure adds a layer of safety.

[lambuhere1]

Comments in Hindu newspaper by former AG might also help in building up your case. Kindly take a look into the same

[lohithrao]

Great initiative!

Sunfilms do a great job in cutting down the heat during the summers which indirectly saves fuel aswel, i think this one point is good to make a case.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by Sunilrj

Coastal Climate is Humid. so even if its 25 degrees and the Humidity is 70% the temperature would feel like its 32 deg.c. on the other hand in continental areas, its dry heat.. i may be wrong as i left my Geography text book in Class 10!

as regards what other car owners / consumers can do to support ? probably join the Blog / comment here and form similar associations and be a party to the appeal ?

Actually the difference may not be as drastic difference as that.

What our skin feed is the wet bulb temperature, not the dry bulb temperature.
Dry bulb temperature is listed in all weather reports.

So how do you get to Wet bulb temp? By using the relative humidity charts.
(the more relative humidity, the more closer is the wet bulb temperature to the dry bulb temp)

[PatchyBoy]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Great initiative!

Sunfilms do a great job in cutting down the heat during the summers which indirectly saves fuel aswel, i think this one point is good to make a case.

IMO, the real points that have to be highlighted and addressed by the counter petition are :

1. What data / statistics were provided in the PIL to substantiate their claims?
2. What expert consultation was done before giving out the ruling?
3. Is the minimum VLT % mandated by CMVR and IS meant for visibilty for the driver from inside the car or is it for visibilty of the insides of the car?
4. If the claim of crimes being committed by misusing dark films on car windows is substantiated, what preventive measures were recommended by the SC to avoid such instances happening in panel vans?

Privacy, women breast feeding, safety in case of glass breakage,prevention of theft, etc. may not really be sustainable.

I am only highlighting the points that I am raising in the counter I am working on. BTW, the original petition was brought up on 11th June and SC vacation bench has ordered for it to be listed when the court resumes after summer vacation. The hearing is now listed for 9th July

Rajan

- When crime does not have a vacation and we have so much of backlog in delivering justice, what is the rationale behind the courts having vacations?

[anandjha]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

1. What data / statistics were provided in the PIL to substantiate their claims?
2. What expert consultation was done before giving out the ruling?
3. Is the minimum VLT % mandated by CMVR and IS meant for visibilty for the driver from inside the car or is it for visibilty of the insides of the car?
4. If the claim of crimes being committed by misusing dark films on car windows is substantiated, what preventive measures were recommended by the SC to avoid such instances happening in panel vans?

Privacy, women breast feeding, safety in case of glass breakage,prevention of theft, etc. may not really be sustainable.

Quite logical. Add to it the duality in the ruling. While 70/50 factory fitted glass is permitted, the tints (+factory fitted glass) offering the same is not.

However one digression. Your point no. 4 is also not much relevant here. The judgement of the previous bench allowing films can provide us some pointers.

Remember during that time also it had negated the Delhi Police contention since films aid crime it should be banned. Even the current bench of Justice Kapadia did not find any merit in relationship between crime and sun films. It just came up with its interpretation of CMVR and found it applicable to only factory fitted glasses. This view of the court went against the films.

Here we are talking about the interpretation of CMVR so issues such as efficiency of AC, saving of fues, safety/crime vis-a-vis films etc. are secondary.

Right to Privacy, I wonder, will at all be even logical at this juncture. It would need a separate petition challenging the constitutional validity of CMVR.

[suv100]

What's more surprising is the silence of Sun film manufacturers and sellers. Did they just decide to shut shop without putting up a fight? It's like they have been expecting this for a long time.

[GSMINC]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

When crime does not have a vacation and we have so much of backlog in delivering justice, what is the rationale behind the courts having vacations?

The so called rationale (as heard from a advocate friend of mine) is that Honorable judges sit through the whole day listening to the arguments from either parties, just like school children listen & pay attention in their classrooms, this happens every day & tends to get monotonous & hence a summer vacation to refresh & rejuvenation.
This was actually a practice of the British judges in pre-independence India & the famed Indian summer butteresed the need for a vacation & after independence the judicial fraternity conveniently continues this practice

[R2D2]

Guys,

This is excellent news. Sunil, thanks for the post.

On a related note, my car has Lumar tints, very light shade on all windows and the rear windshield. The front WS is as it came from the factory as I don't believe in putting on something that could interfere with my vision at night. This is purely out of personal choice. I've never been questioned or stopped by a cop yet. I have adopted a wait and watch attitude. IMHO the Supreme Court took a hasty decision.

Also, I have seen plenty of cars with very dark tints - so dark that it looks like black paper pasted on. These vehicles are not stopped either. So this whole thing is beginning to look like a sham to me.

Regards,

[anjan_c2007]

That is a good decision. We have the Mumbai High Court (Nagpur Bench) in Maharashtra where two activists are fighting against the draconian Green Tax legislation applicable on motor vehicles in Maharashtra 15 years or older. Nowhere else in Maharashtra is this being opposed.
Similarly, we all are disturbed with the SC judgement on sunfilms VLT factor. But the people of Mangalore have taken up the fight to arrive at a logical conclusion.
The police do not have any equipment to measure the VLT factor. What if its 71 % not 69 % and not measured by an authenticated equipment but the poor owner challaned? A policeman with eye problem can challan a car with such 70 to 75 % VLT, saying it is below the specified 70 % as he has the discretion- he is all powerful !

It can be insisted that if at all the judgement has to be implemented (only if the SC Review fails on all other technicalities) , the traffic police everywhere in India needs to be equipped with ISI certified and authenticated equipment to test the VLT factor and issue a printout to the car owner who is under check. Only with the equipment they must go ahead with the implementation of the judgement. Till such time the implementation of the SC decision needs to be kept in abeyance.

In case of a review petition, it is always heard by the same judge or bench of judges, who had passed the respective judgement to be reviewed. Unless there is a new point of law not discussed earlier in the hearings or pointed out in the application/ plaint or the replies by respondents, the review is usually not very successful. So the odds may rule, but let us be optimistic.