Bombay High Court lifts stay on RTO's issuing fitness certificate

The Bombay High Court on Friday vacated the stay imposed on four Regional Transport Offices (RTO) in the state which were barred from issuing fitness certificates to vehicles as they did not meet the standards laid down under the Motor Vehicles Act.

A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Amjad Sayyed had recently stayed the operations at RTO's of Mumbai Central, Pune, Nashik and Lathur. The court had imposed the stay as it was found that these offices did not have the standard 400 meter testing track for vehicles, instead the track was of 250 meters which was in violation of the Act.

The HC has directed the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) to inspect the four RTOs and submit a report by March 24, stating whether the present tracks used for carrying out the fitness test are suitable.

As per the Act, it is mandatory for the RTOs to have 400 metres road track for testing. The vehicles are made to run at a speed of 40 km per hour and asked to apply brakes suddenly. By doing this, the authorities find out at what distance the vehicles stop after applying brakes.

The stay was lifted after the state moved application before the court and submitted an affidavit stating that experts have opined that 150 metres road track would be sufficient to carry out the tests. Hence, it was not necessary for the RTOs in the state to have 400 metres track.

The directions were given during the hearing of a PIL filed by activist Shrikant Karve, seeking a direction to RTOs to follow the Motor Vehicles Act. It was alleged that an average 70 vehicles are cleared every day by each RTO in the state after issuing fitness certificates and this would be impossible if the mandatory checks are actually being carried out.