The Supreme Court has issued a series of nationwide directions to strengthen passenger safety in public transport, directing all States and Union Territories to strictly enforce the installation of Vehicle Location Tracking Devices (VLTDs) and panic buttons in public service vehicles. The directions were passed by a Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan.
Also read- Supreme Court Orders States and UTs to Frame Rules for Pedestrian and Road Safety under Motor Vehicles Act https://thebarbulletin.com/supreme-court-directs-states-frame-pedestrian-safety-rules/
Footpaths For All: Supreme Court Directs Union to Frame National Guidelines on Accessible and Safe Footpaths for All, Including Disabled Persons https://thebarbulletin.com/footpaths-for-all-supreme-court-directs-union-to-frame-national-guidelines-on-accessible-and-safe-footpaths-for-all-including-disabled-persons/
Taking serious note of poor compliance with Rule 125H of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, the Court observed that “less than 1% of transport vehicles have this vehicle location tracking device,” despite the statutory mandate already being in force. The Bench emphasised that VLTDs are not merely regulatory mechanisms but “life-saving systems” capable of enabling real-time emergency response, route monitoring, speed tracking and quicker police intervention, particularly for women, children and senior citizens.
The Court directed that no public service vehicle should be granted a fitness certificate or permit unless installation of VLTDs and emergency buttons is verified and reflected on the VAHAN portal. It further ordered retrofitting of such devices in vehicles registered before December 31, 2018, and directed States to integrate compliance monitoring with the VAHAN database for real-time tracking.
The Bench also expressed concern regarding the implementation of speed limiting devices (SLDs) under Rule 118 of the CMVR and noted that most States had failed to submit compliance reports despite earlier directions. States have now been directed to file fresh affidavits detailing SLD compliance data supported by VAHAN statistics.
The Court observed that manufacturers themselves should install VLTDs and speed-limiting devices at the stage of manufacturing or delivery of transport vehicles. The Union Government was directed to hold consultations with manufacturers and submit a report before the Court.
The Bench also pulled up the Union Government for failing to constitute the National Road Safety Board despite repeated directions over the past six years. Noting that even after granting six months’ time in May 2025 the Board had not been constituted, the Court granted a “last opportunity” and directed that the Board be set up within three months.
Additionally, the Court took note of the Uttar Pradesh Ordinance reviving certain prosecutions under the Motor Vehicles Act that had earlier abated and sought further details from the State regarding the number of cases likely to be revived and the modalities for implementation.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on September 3, 2026
Appearances
For Petitioner- Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, Sr. Adv.(Amicus) Mr. K.C. Jain, In-person Mr. Krishna Kumar, AOR Mr. Vinodh Kanna B, Adv.
For Respondent- Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, A.S.G. Mr. Sharath Nambiar, Adv. Mr. B.K. Satija, Adv. Mr. T.S. Sabarish, Adv. Mr. Debojit Borkakati, Adv. Mr. Jagdish Chandra, Adv. Ms. Tusharika Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sudarshan Lamba, Aor, Adv. Ms. Madhulika Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, A.S.G. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Mr. T S Sabrish, Adv. Mr. Debojit Borkakati, Adv. Ms. Tusharika Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sharath Nambiar, Adv. Mr. S. Lamba, AOR Mr. Viresh B. Saharya, AOR Mr. Merusagar Samantaray, AOR Mr. Kanishk, Adv. Mr. Anurag Yadav, Adv. Mr. Abinash Barik, Adv. Ms. Tharini Sre, Adv. Ms. Ankita Chaudhary, AOR Mr. Satyajeet Kumar, AOR Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. Pranaya Kumar Mohapatra, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Chawla, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anupam Kumar, Adv. Mr. Satvik Sharma, Adv. Mr. D.P. Singh, Adv. Mr. Santosh Kumar – I, AOR Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR Mr. Rajat Bhardwaj, A.A.G. Ms. Baani Khanna, AOR Mr. Robin Singh, Adv. Mr. Kapil Balwani, Adv. Ms. Komal Thakkar, Adv. Mr. Sunil Ahya, Adv. Mr. Anil Kumar, AOR Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Nitin Lonkar, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv. Mr. Shantanu Sagar, AOR Mr. Anil Kumar, Adv. Mr. Gunjesh Ranjan, Adv. Mrs. Divya Mishra, Adv. Mr. Manoneet Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Prakash Kumar Mangalam, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Kumar Gupta, Adv. Ms. Anshala Verma, Adv. Mr. Sanchit Garga, AOR Mr. M. P. Vinod, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Ms. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Santhosh K, Adv. Mrs. Devika A.l., Adv. Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Neha Singh, Adv. Mr. Kishan Chand Jain, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Ashwini Kumar, Adv. Mr. Sidhant Sahay, Adv. Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Mr. Azmat Hayat Amanullah, AOR Ms. Rebecca Mishra, Adv. Ms. Vanshita Gupta, Adv. Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, A.S.G. Mr. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Neeraj Kumar Sharma, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Verma, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Bhuvan Kapur, Adv. Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Apoorv Kurup, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Yogesh Vats, Adv. Ms. Sunita Sharma, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anirudh Sharma-II, Adv. Mr. Jagdish Chandra, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Ms. Savita Singh, AOR Ms. Visakha Raghuram, Adv. Ms. Sukanya Das, Adv. Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR Mr. Rajesh Maurya, Adv. Mrs. Kshama Sharma, Adv. Mr. Ritwik Prasad, Adv. Mr. Rajat Singh Chandel, Adv. Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Mr. Aakash Thakur, Adv. Mr. Nalin Talwar, Adv. Mr. Vivek Kishore, AOR Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, AOR Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Ms. Yanmi Phazang, Adv. Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Mr. Sharanya, Adv. Ms. Rishika Rishabh, Adv. Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Anika Bansal, Adv. Mr. Aadithya Aravindh, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, Senior Advocate, Amicus Curiae Mr. Ravi Raghunath, AOR Mr. Nakul Patwardhan, Adv. Ms. Shirin Khajuria, Sr. Adv. Ms. Swati Tiwari, Adv. Mr. Gopal, Adv. Mr. Rajan Narain, AOR M/s. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Ms. Sunita Sharma, Adv. Mr. Annirudh Sharma II, Adv. Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar, AG Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T.K. Nayak, Adv. Mr. Z.H. Isaac Haiding, Adv. Ms. Marbiang K., Adv. Mr. Aditya Kumar, Adv. Mr. Upendra Mishra, Adv. Mr. P.S.Negi, Adv. Ms. Jaikriti S. Jadeja, AOR Ms. Rashmi Nandakuma Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Mr. D. K. Devesh, AOR Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Mr. Parag Chaturvedi, Adv. Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Mr. Satyalipsu Ray, Adv. Ms. Priyal Sheth, Adv. Mr. Prashant Bhagwati, Adv. Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR Mr. Divyanshu Kumar Srivastava, AOR Mr. Alok Nayak, Adv. Mr. Shivam Nagpal, Adv. Ms. Rasika Jalan, Adv. Mr. V. Shyamohan, AOR Mr. Sanjay Jain, AOR Ms. Devina Sehgal, AOR Mr. Srikanth Varma Mudunuru, Adv.
