The public vehicles department (PVD) has followed in the footsteps of the city police, asking its inspectors to requisition private vehicles for election duty only with the consent of their owners.

“The inspectors have been asked to ensure that private cars, except those being used for commercial purposes, are not requisitioned against the wishes of their owners,” said Ujjal Sengupta, the secretary of the Calcutta PVD.

Last month, Lalbazar had asked all 48 police stations in the city to lay off private vehicles during the requisition drive to avoid violating the 2009 Calcutta High Court ruling in the Sachin Haldar SUV case.

The court had ordered a day’s “civil imprisonment” of the then Canning sub-divisional officer for requisitioning Haldar’s Tata Safari against his wishes and return of the vehicle to its owner.

Earlier, a Bombay High Court ruling had stated that a private vehicle could be requisitioned only with the owner’s consent.

Sengupta said the PVD inspectors had started following the rule and at least two vehicles had not been requistioned following objections from their owners.

“There have been at least two cases of private vehicles being released immediately after their owners refused to give their consent. Many other vehicles have been requisitioned abiding by the rule.”

The responsibility of requisitioning vehicles for poll duty is shared by the police, PVD and the regional transport offices. “The norm is that the vehicles requisitioned by the PVD and RTOs are used for ferrying poll personnel, while those requisitioned by the police for transporting securitymen,” said a state election official.

Earlier, a designated official could requisition any vehicle and the reluctant owner had to argue his case with district election officials or the district magistrate. It was left to the discretion of the authorities to accept or reject the owner’s plea.

The balance of power now seems to have turned in the owners’ favour.

“At times vehicles had been requisitioned for poll duty in an insensitive manner. We have instructed all concerned that to take over a private vehicle not being used for commercial purposes, one has to explain the details to the owner and then seek his/her consent,” said joint chief electoral officer Dibyendu Sarkar.

“Any case of forcible requisition is being immediately looked into so that it isn’t dragged to court.”

Sources said the 2009 fiasco involving Sachin Halder’s car had prompted the authorities to deal with the “sensitive” issue cautiously.

A team of senior officials, led by chief secretary Samar Ghosh, discussed the issue on March 28, following which chief electoral officer S.K. Gupta declared that there was no ban on requisitioning private vehicles for election duty. “The ruling was in relation to the particular case (of Haldar), in which there were procedural lapses,” Gupta had said.

The PVD’s move, sources said, is aimed at ensuring that similar procedural lapses do not recur in the run-up to the Assembly elections.