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RTA blinks at circular, pockets penalty dues
The Union Transport Ministry has issued a circular asking the State Road Transport Authorities not to collect penalty dues from the motorists prior to December 29, the day on which Centre hiked the charges of RTA services like driving licence, fitness certificates etc.
Hyderabad: The Union Transport Ministry has issued a circular asking the State Road Transport Authorities not to collect penalty dues from the motorists prior to December 29, the day on which Centre hiked the charges of RTA services like driving licence, fitness certificates etc.
The Transport department though implemented the orders of enhanced rates from January, 11, 2017 the penalty dues were being collected from the motorists prior to the date (December 29) on which notification was issued and this resulted in hefty penalties on the motorists. An auto driver was asked to pay Rs 53,000 as penalty for failing to produce fitness certificate for his vehicle going by the rule of penalty of Rs 50 per day.
The auto union leaders protested criticising the move and made representations to the government against the penalty amount. The Centre on February 2 issued another notification giving clarity on the penalty amount.
The gazette notification read as- “It is clarified that the revised rates for delay fee can be charged at the new rates from the date of publication of the notification i.e. December 29, 2016 and not retrospectively.”
With Centre clarifying on the penal amount, the union leaders are now demanding the department to return the money collected from the vehicle owners. The Telangana Auto Driver Samakhya president A Sathi Reddy said that the authorities should return the excess amount collected from the motorists in the form of penalties.
He said that many had ended up paying thousands of rupees as penalty. The officials collected more money even from the people who had booked slots prior to the implementation of the rule. “Though the Centre issued circular on the penalty dues, the officials are still collecting the money stating that they were unaware of the gazette. We have the gazette copy and how the government officials don’t have it,” asked Sathi Reddy.
Officials however said that there was no scope for refund of the penalty amount collected from the motorists. A senior official in the department said, once the money reaches government treasury there is no scope for refund. The official said that the penalty dues were more in the case of autos.
Almost 60 per cent of the autos do not have fitness certificate. “The auto drivers don’t go for fitness certificate because they should have all papers including insurance, which costs around Rs 4,000 per year. To avoid the insurance, they don’t get fitness certificate.
However, when their vehicle is seized, they are ready to pay Rs 2,000 as the penalty amount to get back their vehicle,” said the official.
