New Delhi, August 30
The Supreme Court today issued notices to Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh for defying its order for implementing the high-security registration plates (HSRP) scheme meant for checking theft of vehicles and preventing their misuse for committing crimes.

“The conduct of these states clearly reflects their callousness and lack of will to obey the orders of this court. Their attitude is one of disobedience rather than compliance. Thus, in our considered view, these are the defaulting states which have, with impunity, flouted the orders of this court, despite warnings being issued,” a three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia said in an order.

The Bench, which included Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar, directed the three states to show cause why proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, be not initiated against them. If found guilty, they would be punished and slapped with “exemplary costs, personally recoverable from erring officers/officials,” the order said.

The apex court sent the notices to the transport secretaries and the commissioners of the State Transport Authority of the three states.

The SC noted that Punjab, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Gujarat and a few other states had taken “certain effective steps” by inviting tenders but the process was still on. The Bench directed these states to implement the scheme “in its entirety” and ensure that all vehicles have the HSRPs within eight weeks from today “without exception and default”.

The Bench ordered Chandigarh, Bihar and Jharkhand to finalise the tender process within six weeks. Nagaland, West Bengal, Manipur and Puducherry have been asked to file compliance reports in four weeks.

The apex court passed the order on a PIL filed by MS Bitta, Chairman of All-India Anti-Terrorist Front, seeking introduction of tamper-proof number plates in order to ensure people’s safety.