Emphasising on the need to do away with regional transport offices (RTOs), Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said the Centre was in the process of soon ushering in a law to scrap RTOs and replace them with an efficient alternative system.
Mr. Gadkari, delivering the J. S. Karandikar memorial lecture in Pune, referred to “outdated laws and systems” that needed to be scrapped as they often engendered corruption.
“Systems like RTOs ought to be abolished; there is no need for such dinosaurs. We are in the process of preparing a law to replace them,” he said, observing that the institution of the RTO was “a harassing ground for citizens” which offered officials a massive potential for earning wealth by illicit means.
Mr. Gadkari also spoke of a system which employing new technology to nab traffic violators would be mooted soon.
“Under this system, any person violating traffic laws will be served a notice at his or her place. Moreover, if that person moves court against the notice and loses, then he or she will have to pay three times the original fine amount,” he said, adding that the government was in the process of preparing a plan to improve traffic in urban areas on lines of traffic models in the United Kingdom and other developed countries.
