Parliamentary panel clears Panjab University job for Manmohan Singh You will have to pay for `250-cr fund to make Maha roads safer

Former PM Manmohan Singh will soon return to his alma mater, Panjab University, to teach economics.

A parliamentary panel on Thursday responded to a query from Singh who had sought to know if his taking up the job will invite disqualification as an MP under a law that prohibits lawmakers from holding positions with monetary benefits. “We have cleared it. Manmohan Singh’s job as a teacher will not attract the provisions of office of profit,” said BJP MP Satya Pal Singh, the panel’s chief.

In April, the university announced that Singh will head its Jawaharlal Nehru Chair, which was vacant for a long period. Singh accepted the offer. The panel had asked the HRD and law ministries to respond to Singh’s query. After it got written responses, the committee on office of profit met on Thursday to take a decision.

The state plans to create a Rs250-crore fund to make roads in Maharashtra, which witness 65,000 accidents every year, safer. But your safety will come at a price — the money for this corpus will be generated through a cess that will be levied on newly registered vehicles.

The state transport department, which issued an order on the plan earlier this month, said the cess will also be levied on vehicles being brought to Maharashtra from other states. The amount hasn’t been finalized, but sources said it is likely to be 10% of the vehicle tax charged during registration. The tax is around 7% of the cost of the vehicle in the state. So those buying a small car worth Rs3 lakh may have to pay Rs2,100 towards the road safety fund, in addition to the Rs21,000 vehicle tax.

The government hopes to collect Rs250 crore annually through the cess. It also plans to set up a regulatory body including secretaries of transport, home, finance, public works and health departments to ensure effective use of the fund. While the chief secretary of the state will lead the body, it will have the transport commissioner as its secretary.