Supreme Court prohibits heavy motorcycles on highways.
On Friday, the Supreme Court (SC) overturned a four-year-old high court decision that had allowed heavy-bike riders to use the highways.
The SC stated that to ensure public safety, the authorities had correctly limited motorcycle riders under the law.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruling that was issued four years ago was appealed by the Ministry of Communications and the Inspector General (IG) of the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP), and the appeal was granted by a three-judge Supreme Court bench led by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood.
In a 2018 ruling, the top court mandated an improvement to the standard operating procedure (SOP) for motorcyclists using the route.
The motorway restriction placed on motorcycles under Section 45 of the National Highway Safety Ordinance (NHSO) 2000 (NHSO) was legal and could not be interpreted as a violation of any fundamental right to life or liberty, according to Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, wrote the nine-page verdict and rejected the high court’s order.
He also pointed out that this clause was not contested before the IHC as being outside the scope of the NHSO or the Constitution.
As Supreme Court prohibits heavy motorcycles on highways, the court ruled that for the general public’s safety or convenience, the government may prohibit or restrict the use of motor vehicles or any certain type of motor vehicle in a given location or on a particular route.
