Tint of scepticism

KOCHI: The police and traffic officials are quite sceptical about the implementation of the new order from the Supreme Court banning the use of tinted glass on windows in vehicles. Even as the use of tinted windows was prohibited under the Motor Vehicle Rule, the agencies could not enforce the ban till now. One of the main roadblocks to enforce the new order is that neither the police nor the Motor Vehicles Department has any device to measure whether tinted glass are above the prescribed percentage of visibilty.  “It’s an impractical law as we cannot measure whether the glass is 70 per cent transparent or not. Even though the law came into existence several years ago, no vehicle had been caught for using tinted glass. What we can do is to take action against all the vehicles. In such a case, the people will move court and it will delay the whole action,” a police officer said.“The Supreme Court had directed the state governments to frame a law in this regard. Once we get directive from the state government and Home Department, we would take action. It is true that the ban already exists but we have not yet enforced,” K Padmakumar, Inspector General, Ernakulam Range, has said.The Motor Vehicles Department said the action it has taken against such vehicles was not effective. “We had booked several erring vehicles but first we direct the owner to remove the film. If caught again, then we fine them `100. There is no provision for taking strict action against the violators, as in the case of drunken driving and not using helmet,” T J Thomas, Regional Transport Officer, said.