The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed states and Union Territories to ensure, in a “time-bound manner”, that all public service vehicles are mandatorily fitted with vehicle location tracking devices (VLTDs) and “panic buttons” before granting them fitness certificates or permits.

A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan passed the directions as part of efforts to ensure the safety of women, children and the elderly travelling in these vehicles and facilitate timely emergency response in critical situations.

The bench noted that despite Rule 125H of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, mandating the installation of VLTDs and panic buttons in public service vehicles, only 1 per cent of vehicles have such facilities.

Earlier, the road transport and highways ministry had issued a notification dated November 28, 2016, mandating VLTDs and one or more emergency buttons in public service vehicles with effect from April 1, 2018, barring two-wheelers, e-rickshaws, three-wheelers and transport vehicles for which a permit is not required under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988.

However, despite the notification, states and UTs had been lax in implementing the measures, prompting the Supreme Court to pass the directions on Wednesday while dealing with a PIL filed by a social activist titled “Rajasekharan vs Union of India” on measures to combat rising road accidents.

The bench directed the authorities to withhold the grant of fitness certificates or permits to public-transport vehicles under Sections 56 and 66 of the Motor Vehicles Act till the installation of VLTDs and panic buttons was complete.

It asked the Centre to hold talks with manufacturers to ensure that such devices were installed at the time of vehicle manufacturing.

The official order was not uploaded at the time of filing the report.