Transporters rue penalty on 10-year-old diesel vehicles

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Narnaul, September 19

The Regional Transport Authority’s (RTA) move to penalise diesel vehicles older than 10 years without fitness certificate has caused resentment among transporters. The RTA has begun to impose fine of Rs 50 per month on vehicles plying without the certificate.

Terming the penalty as unlawful, Anil Kaushik, president of the Progressive Private School Owners’ Association, questioned, “How could they renew fitness certificates when the authorities concerned had imposed a ban on its issuance? The practice should be stopped immediately.”

Sources said the transport authority had stopped issuing fitness certificates to diesel vehicles older than 10 years in 13 districts of Haryana in December 2015, in view of NGT order which directed the government not to issue certificate to such vehicles in the NCR in order to reduce the pollution level.

They maintained the NGT order was to be implemented three districts — Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), Gurgaon and Faridabad, but the state government executed the same in all 13 districts under the NCR. The RTA recently lifted the ban on issuing fitness certificates in 10 of the 13 districts and began imposing fine of Rs 50 per month on diesel vehicles without carrying the same.

The Progressive Private School Owners’ Association (PPSOA) has also urged Suprabha Dahiya, Transport Commissioner, to restrain the local authorities from penalising such vehicles.

Kaushik said the association would approach the court in case their demand was not met.