The Legal Metrology department of the state has begun taking the first steps towards getting the right to test and verify rickshaw and taxi meters, a job which is currently done by the Regional Transport Offices, which are perennially short-staffed.
The Legal Metrology department of the state has begun taking the first steps towards getting the right to test and verify rickshaw and taxi meters, a job which is currently done by the Regional Transport Offices, which are perennially short-staffed.
Weights and measures officials and RTOs along with union functionaries made the rounds of the testing tracks at Andheri RTO to get a hang of the job at hand. As the next step, officials said, the metrology department would be meeting meter manufacturers from across the state on Tuesday to chart out a uniform policy on meter testing.
Currently, the pulse of meters – the calculation of which helps convert the distance into fare – is set differently for different kinds of rickshaws such as two-stroke and four-stroke as well as manufacturers.
According to sources, the diktat given to the manufacturers is that the pulse of all meters should be an even 1,000 pulse for a kilometre. The unions welcomed the move. "It will allow the testing to be more accurate and simplified and less time-consuming," said Thampi Kurian of the Mumbai Rickshawmen's Union.
The entry of the Legal Metrology department is expected to make the fight against meter tampering a far more coordinated effort. There more stringent laws in the department's arsenal, courtesy the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and the Maharashtra Legal Metrology (Enforcement) Rules, 2011.
The fight against meter tampering hasn't been very satisfactory, agreed transport officials, because of the lack of manpower and the wide array of tasks that the RTOs are mandated to do. It is such a slow process that the only meter tampering case being heard at the State Transport Authority Tribunal was lodged way back on August 8, 2012 at Jogeshwari police station.
Why Legal Metrology Act has more teeth
Under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, authorities can raid the premises where any activity violating the Act are going on. As per Act, premises could also mean 'a vehicle or vessel or mobile device with the help of which any transaction or business is carried out' – in short a taxi or an rickshaw. The law gives sweeping powers to authorities to raid meter repairers, impose a fine of up to Rs1 lakh on testing centres, penalise those tampering with seals, including wires used in meters. The Act also prescribes a minimum jail term of one month, with the maximum being a year for repeat offenders.
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