Puri: Unruly vehicle owners here are in a real tizzy as the Regional Transport Office (RTO) has decided to impose a penalty of Rs 50 every day on vehicles operating without fitness certificates with retrospective effect from December 24.
The bus and truck operators, however, demanded imposition of penalty with effect December 29, 2016, when the Union government came out with a notification. According to official guidelines, vehicle operators are supposed to renew the fitness certificates on payment of some charges every year. However, many vehicles are running without such certificates. Transport department officials are authorised to renew fitness certificates after examining the roadworthiness of vehicles.
RTO sources said the Centre has raised registration as well as renewal fees for vehicles through the December 29 notification. According to the notification, vehicle owners, who fail to renew fitness certificates annually, would be penalised.
Sources said the Centre has asked the transport department officials to charge Rs 400 each for examining fitness of light vehicles and Rs 600 for heavy vehicles. Moreover, officials have been directed to collect Rs 200 for renewing the fitness certificate of a vehicle. “We will conduct regular checks on roads and our officials have been asked to collect Rs 5,000 fine from the owners of vehicles that are running without fitness certificates as per Section 192 of the Motor Vehicle Act,” said regional transport officer Braja Kishore Senapati. PNN
