The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) has prohibited people from indulging in loud conversations on mobile phones and accessing audios/videos on mobile devices without headphones while travelling on its buses, officials said on Thursday. The decision has been taken by the city civic transport body to avoid inconvenience to co-passengers, a BEST spokesperson told PTI.
Acting on the frequency of complaints from passengers, the BEST undertaking took this decision and issued a notification on April 24, he said. Under the new regulation, all passengers travelling on BEST buses, the public transport service for Mumbai and neighbouring cities, are required to use headphones while watching videos or listening to an audio on their mobile devices.
The spokesperson said BEST’s buses are public service vehicles and hence, to avoid any kind of inconvenience or trouble caused by anyone to co-passengers, action can be taken under the Bombay Police Act’s section 38/112. The department concerned has been asked to display the notification on all the buses, the official said. All staffers working on the BEST buses, including those of the wet-leased vehicles hired from private companies, will be made aware of this new regulation, he said.
The BEST Buses
The BEST, which has a fleet of nearly 3,400 buses, provides public transport services in Mumbai and neighbouring Thane, Navi Mumbai and Mira-Bhayander cities. More than 30 lakh passengers travel every day on the BEST buses.
What is Section 38 of the BPA, 1951
Section 38 of the act deals with the Power to prohibit continuance of music, sound or noise, if:
(1) If the Commissioner or District superintendent is satisfied from the report of an officer in charge of a Police Station or other information received by him that it is necessary to do so in order to prevent annoyance, disturbance, discomfort or injury or risk or annoyance, disturbance, discomfort or injury to the public or to any persons who dwell or occupy property in the vicinity, be may, by a written order issue such directions as he may consider necessary to any person for preventing, prohibiting, controlling or regulating, as per a report by Lawyer Services.
(a) the incidence or continuance in or upon any premises of-
(i) any vocal or instrumental music,
(ii) sounds caused by the playing, beating, clashing, blowing or use in any manner whatsoever of any instrument, appliance or apparatus or contrivance which is capable of 3[producing or reproducing sound], or
(b) the carrying on, in or upon, any premises or any trade, avocation or operation resulting in or attended with noise.
(2) The authority empowered under sub-section (1) may, either on its own motion or on the application of any person aggrieved by an order made under sub-section (1), either rescind, modify or alter any such order:
“Provided that before any such application is disposed of, the said authority shall afford to the applicant an opportunity of appearing before it either in person or by pleader and showing cause against the order and shall, if it rejects any such application either wholly or in part, record its reasons for such rejection,” the act says.
What Does Section 112 Say?
As per the Laywer Services report, the act deals with: “Misbehaviour with intention to provoke a breach of the peace”.
No person shall use in any street or public place any threatening abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace or whereby a breach of the peace may be occasioned, the acts says.
Similar Move by Karnataka in the Past
In 2021, an order was passed which stated that passengers on Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses were no longer permitted to listen to music using mobile phone speakers, according to a Transport Department rule, said an Indian Express report.
The order followed a writ case in the Karnataka High Court, and stated that the bus conductor would first ask the passenger to turn off the phone’s speaker mode. If the passenger did not cooperate, the driver or conductor could request that the person exit the bus. The bus could also be stopped until the individual got off the vehicle.
“Playing loud music in buses by passengers disturbs other passengers as well as the driver and conductor. Hence, as per the order from the transport department, we are implementing the rule immediately and all drivers and conductors have been made aware of the new rule,” KSRTC Public Relations Officer Latha T S had told Indian Express.
The order had come in after several complaints of tussles between drivers and passengers over the playing of loud music. Rule 94 of the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Rules (1989) also states passengers in a stage carriage are prohibited from “singing or playing any musical instrument or operating a transistor radio.”
With inputs from PTI
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