ConCourt rules Aarto Act is valid and not unconstitutional
The Constitutional Court has ruled the Aarto Act should remain in place, overturning the Pretoria high court judgment that the act was invalid and unconstitutional.
The ConCourt was to validate the high court ruling but chief justice Raymond Zondo ruled in favour of the minister of transport, who was the respondent in the matter.
This means the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act will not be scrapped, as parliament had the competence to pass it, Zondo said.
“In a unanimous judgment written by me, the Constitutional Court has upheld the contentions advanced by the minister of transport, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency [RTIA] and the Road Traffic Management Corporation [RTMC] that the subject matter of the Aarto Act falls within the functional area described as ‘road traffic regulation’ … which is within the concurrent legislative competence of parliament and the provincial legislatures.
“This court has concluded in this judgment that parliament had the competence to pass the Aarto Act,” he said.
This means the legislation — intended to penalise traffic violations, legalise fines by e-mail and introduce a demerit system that would strip repeat offenders of their licences — will go ahead as planned.
No comments
Post a Comment