The inexperience of the driver of the 16-seater minibus which was taking students of Jyothinilayam School back to their homes is learnt to have resulted in the accident that caused the death of three students and injuries to 18 others.
“We have found that the driver, Jithin Gerald, had obtained the driving licence five days ago from the Regional Transport Office, Attingal, for driving light motor vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers. With this driving licence granted by us, he is not authorised to drive a transport vehicle,” a senior Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) official told The Hindu.
As per rule, one can drive a transport vehicle only one year after getting a valid driving licence, the only exception being for driving autorickshaws. For driving a vehicle of an educational institution, it is mandatory for the driver to have 10 years of experience. The driver can be prosecuted as he does not have experience to drive the minibus.
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A team led by Joint Transport Commissioner Alex Paul and Regional Transport Commissioner, Thiruvananthapuram, G. Manoharan inspected the vehicle and found that the registration particulars of the vehicle was in order and that the minibus was registered in 2003. Only a detailed inspection will reveal whether the van had any mechanical problems.
The Kadinamkulam police on Monday night filed a case against BPM UP School, Vettuthura, and the driver of the minibus under sections 304 of the Indian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. (The minibus of BMP UP School was dropping students of Jyothinilayam School back home). The decision to register the case was taken after the investigators found that the van did not belong to the school and was taken on hire. Although the school authorities and the crew stated that there were only 23 students in the vehicle, the investigators found that 50 children were taken in the bus daily from the school. (The seating capacity was only 16).
It was also found that the minibus was also used to ferry the children of BPM UP School. The Circle Inspector, Kazhakuttam, will inquire into the accident.
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Additional State Police Chief P. Chandrasekharan; Inspector-General of Police, Thiruvananthapuram Range, K. Padmakumar; City Police Chief Manoj Abraham; Rural Police Chief A. Akbar; and Deputy Superintendent of Police, Attingal, K.E. Baiju, coordinated the rescue operations.