Owners of 'killer' Blueline buses may have to cough up Rs one lakh as fine for every fatal accident involving their vehicle, the Centre informed the Delhi HC.
NEW DELHI: Owners of 'killer' Blueline buses may have to cough up Rs one lakh as fine for every fatal accident involving their vehicle, the Centre on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court.
The Centre said it was considering a proposal to double the existing fine from Rs 50,000 to Rs one lakh for vehicles involved in the fatal accidents.
"The proposed amendment in the Motors Vehicle Act to increase the amount of fine from Rs 50,000 to minimum one lakh has been passed by the Lok Sabha and is pending before the Rajya Sabha," advocate Gaurav Duggal appearing for the Centre said.
He also informed a Bench comprising Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Reva Khetrapal that in case of serious injury to victims, the fine would be Rs 50,000 and in accidents resulting in non-serious injury to victims the amount of fine would be Rs 25,000.
The Centre was responding to queries put by the Bench on why it had not amended the compensation amount for the last 13 years despite the enormous increase in the cost of living.
The fine of Rs 50,000 was fixed by the Centre in the year 1994 for the death of a commuter. Duggal said that during these 13 years that amount, based on the cost of living index, had become equivalent to Rs 1.09 lakh.
The Court was hearing a matter which it took note of in the light of recent deaths caused due to rash and negligent driving by Blueline buses. The buses have claimed 109 victims this year.
Earlier, the city government had assured the Court that all Blueline buses would be phased out by 2012 and the process would start from this month with 1,500 new low-floor buses replacing the rampaging Blueline buses.
In an affidavit, the government had submitted that the phase out of Blueline buses would be carried out by involving corporates in running the public transport fleet.
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