KOCHI: The Motor Vehicle Department’s attempt to ensure timely disposal of check reports and infuse them with deterrents through an amendment to the Kerala Motor Vehicle Rules has received a setback after the High Court found it “unconstitutional and consequently unenforceable”.
In a verdict dated January 10, a single judge of the High Court allowed writ petitions challenging the Kerala Motor Vehicle (1st amendment) Rules, 2016, filed by Kerala Bus Transport Association (KBTA), Kerala Taurus Tipper Association, and two others. The State government is now planning to go on appeal before a division bench.
The amendment introduced a new provision to sub-rule (2) of Rule 105 of the Kerala Motor Vehicle Rules. It says that no officer of the MVD shall accept applications for renewal of fitness certificates or other services, except for remittance of tax unless it is accompanied by a clearance certificate in the prescribed form from the original registering authority to the effect that there are no government dues or arrears of motor vehicle tax in respect of the vehicle, and that no legal action is pending in respect of the vehicle in the office.
The delay in clearing check reports and government dues by operators resulting in revenue loss owing to the absence of such a provision in the Motor Vehicle Rules was cited as the reason for the amendment.
For now, thousands of check reports are pending across the State as offenders, mainly stage carriages and tipper lorries, often choose not to pay the compounding fee and even if action is taken against them by the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), the offenders often manage to get it stayed by the court.
Sources said check reports had ended up with no deterrent effect as serial offenders like speeding private stage carriages and overloaded tippers manage to go scot free even as their scant regard for rules continues to take a toll on road safety and the physical condition of roads.
The MVD had suffered a string of setbacks ever since the Transport Commissioner issued a circular on August 26, 2011, containing the same provision in the amendment by way of clauses 20 and 30. However, it was stayed by a single judge of the High Court in less than two months in an interim order passed on a writ petition filed by KBTA. Both the clauses were eventually quashed by the High Court on January 22, 2013 on the grounds that they were “arbitrary and falls foul of Article 14 of the Constitution, besides offending the right guaranteed to operators to carry on the business under Article 19 (1) (g)of the Constitution.”
Though the MVD filed a writ appeal against the single judge verdict, a division bench upheld it on July 24, 2015. Later, on the advice of the Advocate General, the government opted for an amendment to the Act.
According to sources, since the Motor Vehicle Act is a minor one, it provides limited enforcement options against errant motorists like imposition of fine or cancellation of vehicle documents by placing the case before the RTA.
Though the option of prosecution is also available, the department’s executive staff strength of 613 is cited as grossly inadequate to allocate men for the long-drawn-out process.
