Transparency factor

The transport department would cancel the registration of vehicles with tinted glasses from April 1, almost a year after the Supreme Court banned its use.

The apex court had issued the order on April 27, 2012. It had ordered a blanket ban on the use of tinted glasses with effect from May 4, 2012.

Waking up from slumber almost a year after, the transport department has set March 31 deadline to remove black films. “From April 1, any vehicle caught with tinted screens beyond the prescribed limit would face serious trouble. The transport department, in assistance with the police, has been penalising the offenders. But still several people are flouting the Supreme Court order. We would cancel a vehicle’s registration under Section 53(i) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The information has been passed on to the district transport officers across the state,” an officer with the department told The Telegraph on Friday.

On what took the police and the transport department a year to nail the offenders, an official said: “The district transport office has just eight enforcement officers to check the vehicles. As a result, the department takes the help of the traffic police for the purpose. The traffic police, on the other hand, have to take care of so many things. This is where the campaign against tinted glasses lost steam.”

Patna traffic superintendent of police Chandrika Prasad said the campaign never died down but the police would definitely be stricter in the coming months.

“Our last campaign against tinted glasses was in January. In April, we will again start the drive. The police, in association with the transport department, are always on alert,” Prasad said.