Bhubaneswar: Odisha transport department Tuesday directed enforcement officials to seize vehicles plying without valid fitness certificates and other mandatory documents.
State Transport Commissioner Amitabh Thakur issued the directive in a letter to all regional transport officers (RTOs), traffic inspectors and other enforcement officers Tuesday.
According to officials, enforcement teams issued challans to around 1.64 lakh vehicles for traffic and road safety violations between April 1 and June 30, but only 428 vehicles were seized.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the low number of seizures, Thakur directed officials to impound vehicles found operating without valid fitness certificates, registration certificates, insurance, permits or other mandatory documents.
“Enforcement officials have, in many cases, confined their action to issuing a challan only, without taking consequential action for seizure or detention of the vehicle. This practice is highly unsatisfactory and defeats the very object of road safety enforcement,” he said.
A vehicle found plying without a valid registration certificate, fitness certificate, permit or other mandatory statutory compliance cannot be allowed to continue its journey merely upon payment or issuance of a challan, he said.
Compounding or issuing a challan may address past liability, but it cannot legalise or permit the continuation of an ongoing statutory violation, he added.
Once the offence is detected, the offending vehicle cannot be permitted to continue in violation of statutory provisions. Such vehicles need to be seized and can be released after payment of the fine and also availing valid documents, the transport commissioner said in the letter.
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