How Was An Ordinary Citizen Able To Obtain 'MLA Sticker' For Use On Personal Car? High Court Asks Mumbai Police To Probe

The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed Mumbai Police to investigate how a local resident obtained an 'authorised' sticker meant for Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in Maharashtra, for his personal car.

A division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Dr Neela Gokhale ordered the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone VI, Mumbai Police, to ascertain the 'source' of the sticker found on the personal vehicle of one Chandrakant Gandhi, a resident of Tilak Nagar in suburban Mumbai.

"Mr DCP our main concern is that whether those stickers were genuine or not. We find from the investigations till now that this aspect is not yet probed. If the stickers were genuine, they must have been issued by the Secretariat of the Legislative Assembly... You must ascertain the source of those stickers? Because those stickers are issued only to sitting or ex-MLAs and it is the prosecution case that the no one in the family of the accused is an MLA. So from where did they obtain such stickers?" Justice Gadkari questioned.

The judges further explained how the unauthorised use of these stickers, which contain the logo of the State Assembly and also the National Emblem, can cause a huge issue as anybody can use those stickers on the vehicles, commit a crime or evade any action etc.

"The issue is that the misuse of such stickers must be stopped," Justice Gadkari told the DCP and further cited an example, saying, "You go down and see, right from the gate of this court till you take the CSMT railway station, you will come across hundreds of motorcycles with the sticker of Maharashtra Police or Mumbai Police on it. And unfortunately, not a single person riding those bikes, would even be a constable. This is the height of misuse of such stickers. You need to take action on these things."

The bench further expressed its concern over what if the stickers are bogus. "If so, then anyone can easily get it from somewhere and then put it on their vehicles and evade action or even commit crimes, So this aspect of bogus stickers also needs to be probed thoroughly," the bench said.

The exchange took place while hearing a petition filed by Gandhi, who sought to quash a First Information Report (FIR) lodged against him under the provisions of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act,1950, and section 177 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, lodged against the petitioner on May 10, 2024, by a neighbour.

The neighbour in his complaint to the local police, informed that he came across the sticker meant for MLAs on the car of the accused and found it 'improper' as none in the family of the accused were or are MLAs. He therefore lodged an FIR against the accused, as they have been using the vehicle for their personal use with an 'authorised' sticker being displayed on their car.

However, the neighbour and the accused, later settled the matter outside court and he agreed to have 'no objection' in the HC quashing the case against the accused persons.

In its defence, the accused pointed out that the Emblem and Names Act only disallow the use of the emblem for commercial or business purposes. 

"But it can certainly not be used for committing crimes? Also, show us the provision which permits you as a citizen to use the stickers with emblem, on your personal car," the judges responded.

The bench said it would not quash the case till it got a report from the Mumbai Police on the issues, highlighted by it in the instant hearing and kept the matter after two weeks.