The marked increase in the number of challans issued against e-rickshaws came after the High Court last month observed that the Transport Department of Delhi government was “not serious” about enforcing the compliance of the law in relation to the requirement of having fitness certificate by every vehicle plying on road.
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“There are more than 80,583 e-rickshaws plying on the Delhi roads whose fitness certificate has expired till December 22, 2021. Similarly, the fitness certificates of 9,451 auto-rickshaws have expired, but continue to ply on the roads of Delhi,” the Transport Department has admitted.
The High Court, had on April 7, while hearing a petition by autorickshaw driver Ajit Kumar, represented by advocate Vishal Khanna, seeking to remove old autorickshaws from roads either by scrapping them or by enforcing the replacement scheme applicable to autorickshaws, had directed the Transport Department to take remedial steps forthwith.
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In response to the Order, the Transport Department has, in an affidavit, stated that it has issued a slew of guidelines to encourage e-rickshaw owners to renew fitness certificate.
E-rickshaw and e-cart owners are being informed repeatedly through SMS in Hindi about the requirement of fitness certificate, the Department said adding that the SMSs are being sent continuously every week since April 1, 2022.
It said from March 29, 2022, the requirement of having a driving licence has been made a mandatory condition for registration of new e-rickshaws in order to discourage unauthorised plying.
Also, all manufacturers are directed to sell e-rickshaws, for registration in Delhi, only to those persons who are in possession of a valid driving licence to drive an e-rickshaw issued by the Transport Department of Delhi.
The Department further said that in order to encourage the owners of e-rickshaws to come forward for renewal of fitness certificate, an Order was issued on May 5, 2022 for providing exemption/waiver from payment of additional fee on account of delay in renewal certificate of fitness in respect of e-rickshaw and e-cart up to June 15, 2022. The High Court will hear the case on Wednesday.