Kolkata, July 19 The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday extended the deadline for the West Bengal government to submit a list of people in the state who are entitled to use red beacons on their vehicles.
The state was supposed to submit the list to the division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj on Tuesday only, but was unable and and the division bench gave a fresh deadline of August 1.
The issue of misuse of red beacons was brought to the court's notice early this year, after Trinamool Congress strongman and the party's Birbhum district President, Anubrata Mandal was seen sporting a red beacon on his vehicles. BJP leader and advocate, Tarunjyoti Tiwari filed a petition questioning whether the district President of any party who does not hold any government post can really use a red beacon on his vehicle. Thereafter, the court asked the state government to submit a list of those people who are entitled to use red beacons on their vehicles.
Meanwhile, Mandal's counsel has informed the court that his client has stopped using red beacons. Misuse of red beacons had been a headache for police for the last couple of years after several imposters, bogus bureaucrats and fake police officers were arrested after they duped common people by using red beacons on their vehicles.
Two types of red beacons are approved by the state government to be used on the vehicles for select persons. The first category is "red beacon with flashers" and the second is "red beacon without flashers". However, both the categories are reserved for only those holding important government posts.
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