HC orders State to probe RTOs
KEEP AN EYE ON IT! Govt told to appoint IAS officer to inquire into whether officers follow rules while inspecting vehicles
The Bombay High Court on Friday took a stern view over the failure of the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) across Maharashtra in complying with the provision of the Motor Vehicles Act. The HC accordingly directed Chief Secretary of the government to delegate the responsibility of conducting an inquiry against all the RTOs to ascertain whether they have complied with the Act as well as the court’s orders.
A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Anil Menon asked the Chief Secretary to appoint an IAS official to conduct the inquiry. The IAS official would also be conducting a probe against Deepak Mane, the RTO inspector, who travelled nearly 250 km only to issue fitness certificates to some vehicles, illegally.
Earlier this week, the judges were informed that Mane had travelled all the way to Pune from Solapur to conduct fitness test on 70 trucks. This was done illegally since he was not authorised to conduct any tests in Pune RTO.
While directing for an enquiry, Justice Oka said, “All the orders passed by this court in the past were issued by keeping in mind the safety of citizens as well as roads. The orders for conducting fitness tests on vehicles before they ply on roads, were passed since it is mandated in law. However, we feel sorry to say, there has been a complete failure on part of the government in implementing our orders.”
The judges expressed their expectation that the concerned minister would undertake appropriate steps to ensure the orders were implemented in letter and spirit.
“We accordingly, direct the chief secretary to appoint a senior ranking IAS officers to look into compliance of all the orders passed by this court and also the process followed by RTOs while issuing fitness certificates,” Justice Oka said, adding, “The IAS official will have to submit a report of his inquiry by December 16.”
The judges were hearing a batch of petitions seeking effective implementation of the Motor Vehicles Act. The petitions were filed by a Pune-based senior citizen Shrikant Karve, who has time and again highlighted the apathy of the authorities in implementing the HC’s orders. Accordingly, the judges directed the government to grant Rs 1 lakh to Karve, since he had taken effort to proceed with the litigation.