Taking note of the rise in road accident fatalities caused by heavy vehicles, the Bombay High Court on asked the RTO commissioner to ensure that uninsured vehicles are not allowed to ply.
A division bench of justices V M Kanade and A R Joshi also directed the RTO commissioner and city police commissioner to provide details of corruption cases lodged against RTO officers.
The details were sought after a PIL filed by advocate R Kachve alleged that RTO officials accept bribe and allow heavy vehicles to ply without proper verification.
The court also sought statistics with regard to accidents involving heavy vehicles in the state.
According to the petition, over three lakh people die in India in road accidents involving heavy vehicles.
As per the PIL, the Supreme Court had in 1993 issued directions with regard to type, size and other details of heavy vehicles. The SC had then asked all state governments to issue circulars giving specifications of heavy vehicle.
“The RTO officers do not implement the rules which causes many accidents. They (RTO) accept bribe and let such heavy vehicles ply,” said Kachve.
The judges have also asked what steps are being taken by the RTO and police to curb such corruption and posted the petition for hearing after two weeks.
