31 August,2016 05:14 PM IST | | Vinay Dalvi
Bombay HC had asked state to construct 250-metre tracks for testing vehicles; state says it needs 18 months to make them at 16 RTOs
The Regional Transport Office's (RTO) decision to stop issuing fitness certificates to commercial vehicles has brought around 23 lakh vehicles to a screeching halt. All of them are in line for their certificates, the Bombay High Court was told on Tuesday. The RTO's move to stop issuing the certificates comes in the wake of several HC orders that mandated RTO offices to have minimum 250-metre test tracks in order to examine the vehicles.
Vehicles that have crossed the 15-year mark are required to go in for fitness tests. File pic
Make tracks
In its last few orders this year, the HC had asked the state government to make available minimum 250-metres for the track as per central government's rules and said that no public road can be used one.
These tracks were to be used for testing vehicles and issuing fitness certificates. The court had also directed the state to make sure every RTO has a track within six months. But, the state has been telling the court that it does not have the land required for forming tracks.
It had also asked the court to decrease the limit of track to 150 meters, which the court denied, saying that it would not be fair to reduce the limit, as the fitness test in that case could not be considered valid, as per central government rules. The court had also said giving certificates to such vehicles without proper testing and running on tracks was akin to putting the lives of people in danger.
On Tuesday, acting advocate general Rohit Deo told the bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Amjad Sayed that among the 50 RTO offices in the state, "In 16 places we have around 250 meters of land and a brake test track can be constructed. 18 months will be required to construct the track and in other 32 places, 250 meters land is not available and efforts are being made to occupy and identify it." In Mumbai, the space is available at the Borivli and Tardeo RTOs.
However justice Oka was not satisfied by the time asked by the state counsel for construction of the track. Oka had earlier asked the state whether it was ready to stop issuing of fitness certificates or should the court stop it. Accordingly, the state had stopped issuing fitness certificates, which are mandatory for all vehicles that have crossed a 15-year limit. "We stopped it since August 18 and now there is a queue of 23 lakh vehicles that need fitness certificates and can't ply without it," said Deo. Meanwhile the School Bus Owners Association tried to intervene in the matter but were asked by justice Oka to come on Thursday.
