Telangana Govt opposes the penalty of Rs.50

Hyderabad, February 6: Already we knew that, The Central government had announced that, If the fitness certificate of any vehicle crosses the expiry date, The owner of the vehicle should charged Rs. 50 per day till the renewal of certificate.

Now, The Telangana Government is seeking withdrawal of Rs.50 penalty per day that is to be paid by owners of transport vehicles.

As per a recent gazette notification issued by the Government of India, the fee structure for various services offered by RTA offices across the country has been revised with a hike of 100-300% being affected.

After relevant provisions of the Central Motor Vehicle Act were amended, the central government directed all the State government to implement the revised fee structure.

Besides, RTA services, penalty amounts have also been revised. In the case of renewal of fitness certificates for transport vehicles, the penalty fixed is Rs.50 per day with retrospective effect.

For instance, if a transport vehicle is due for fitness renewal on 1 February 2016 and this has not been done even a year later, obtaining the certificate will attract Rs.50 per day as penalty. The total penal amount payable for the vehicle would be Rs.18,250.

A senior official in the transport department said the state government has written to the Centre seeking the withdrawal of this penalty for transport vehicles or at least re-classify the category of vehicles to be covered under the penalty clause.

Officials said while the hike in the fee structure for the licence fee, hypothecation, and other services has not been opposed despite the increase in charges being substantial, it is the Rs 50 per day penalty in connection with fitness certificate renewal that has attracted criticism.

"Auto drivers have been hit hard by the Rs.50 per day penalty.There are thousands of autorickshaws in the Greater Hyderabad limits for which fitness certificates have not been renewed for almost two years for various reasons.

The drivers have been pleading for withdrawal of the fine as they would have to pay Rs 36,500 for a two-year delay in getting fitness certificate renewed", said an official.

"It is learned that other state governments too are writing to the Centre to withdraw the `50 per day penalty clause", officials said.

The RTA authorities stopped their special drive against autorickshaw drivers on Wednesday, but for other reasons.Several auto-rickshaw drivers were pleasantly surprised when the RTA server stopped accepting penalty amounts from that day.

Officials told the auto drivers to come back for renewal after a week as the server was being updated. The special drive against people driving without having a valid license, however, continued to be conducted by traffic police.