The Office of Secretary,

Regional transport AuthorityProblems & Prospects

Over the years, the public perception of the office of Secretary, Regional Transport Authority has lowered.

Issues which need interventions1. Registration of Transport Vehicles.2. Issuance of Driving Licenses.3. Grant of Licenses to Agents.4. Fitness Certificate/ Passing of Vehicles.5. Token Tax.6. Overloading. 7. Requirement/ Re-designation of Staff.8. Requirement of other Infrastructure.

Registration of Vehicles• Presently, the office of R.T.A. deals with the registration

of transport/ commercial vehicles as per provisions of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

• The existing system allows for various discretions and consequently corrupt practices.

• The dealer point registration system needs to be introduced as has been done in the case of registration of Non-transport vehicles.

• The system will help in simplifying the procedure for the registration of motor vehicles, saving time of vehicle owners, making the system transparent and reducing workload in the offices of registering authorities.

Issuance of Driving Licenses

• The office of R.T.A. issues the licenses (learner & pucca) to drive transport/ commercial vehicles.

• Since the license holder is responsible for driving of a commercial/transport/heavy vehicle on road, the issuance of these licenses require a more stringent & professional approach.

• 3 Drivers Training Institutes have been made operational so far and 2 more are under process.

• These Drivers Training Institutes are imparting training in more efficient & professional ways in comparison to the driving schools of Haryana Roadways.

• More of such DTIs are required in PPP mode.

Grant of Licenses to Agents• As per the existing practice, some private agents are

working as facilitators for the citizens by filling up their application forms along with necessary documents & completing all formalities including fee deposit etc.

• These persons charge heavy amount from the citizens in lieu of getting the work done in these offices.

• Being an informal channel of getting the work done in collusion with the lower staff, it tends to breed corruption in the office.

• In reality, keeping in view the shortage of the staff, they are providing important and valuable services to the public.

• There are many departments like HUDA, Income Tax, Excise & Taxation, Tehsil etc. wherein the services of these agents have been regularized by granting them licenses.

• Therefore, there is a need to put in place a mechanism of their regulation.

• A proposal in this regard has already been initiated by the department a year ago.

Fitness/ Passing of Vehicles

• Section 56 of Motor Vehicles Act,1988 makes it mandatory for a transport vehicle to carry a certificate of fitness issued by prescribed authority.

• The validity of fitness in case of new vehicle is two years and in case of old vehicles, it is one year.

• The fitness is granted by a Board of inspection consisting of the Secretary, RTA and the Motor Vehicle Inspector, the later being technical member.

Fitness-Ideal Type

• The Motor vehicle Inspector is supposed to methodically inspect every vehicle presented before the Board and fill in the details in prescribed Form HR 14 containing approximately 100 odd items pertaining to fitness of a particular vehicle.

• If vehicles are checked strictly as per provisions of MV Act,1988 and CMVR, 1989, the MVI would take a minimum of one hour per vehicle. Therefore, he could hardly inspect 10 vehicles in a day.

• Strictly speaking, fewer vehicles would pass the fitness test for running on the roads as they would fail on one or the other parameter.

Fitness- Harsh Reality• MVI from the Roadways is given additional charge for this

purpose. He comes only on the days assigned for passing (one or two days).

• His competence & skill in conducting complete check of fitness-parameters are doubtful.

• Very few or only superficial attributes are checked.• Because of his own personal interests, the focus is not on

rejection but on granting fitness to maximum vehicles.• The Compromised Fitness can lead to fatal road accidents.• Secretary, RTA , being in charge of two districts, due to

shortage of time, always comes to the inspection-site in a hurry and is only able to check the physical presence of the vehicles.

Fitness- The Alternative • Section 56 states that the fitness certificate can be

granted either by the prescribed authority or by an ‘Authorized Testing Station’

• The Authorized Testing Station means a vehicle service station or public or private garage, which the State Govt. may specify in accordance with the rules.

• These Private Stations now a days equipped with computerized testing facility. Also lesser human interventions required, thereby enhancing precision and reducing discretion.

• Few States like Delhi have outsourced the fitness to these specialized testing stations.

Token Tax• Presently, the token tax on the Transport & Non-transport

vehicles is levied as per provisions of Haryana Motor vehicle Taxation Act, 2013.

• The act envisages One-time tax for all Non-transport vehicles and a majority of transport vehicles.

• But we haven't yet fully shifted to OTT for transport vehicles. The token tax is collected in office of RTA on quarterly basis.

• There are approximately 6 lakhs transport vehicles in the state. Levying and collecting quarter tax amount to 24 lakhs transaction per year across the 21 offices. Therefore, more than 1 lakh transactions per office per year.

• There is scarcity of staff in the office of RTA, ill-equipped to handle this much transactions.

• The repeated visits to the office of RTA makes the way for corrupt practices.

• more and frequent tax evasions.

One-Time Tax

• would be beneficial to the owner as lesser amount would be paid.

• lesser tax evasion and therefore enhanced revenue collections of the Govt.

• lesser transactions in the office.• reduced work pressure on officials.• more transparency and reduction in corrupt

practices.

Overloading of Vehicles• Overloading of vehicles is the problem existing

in almost all countries of the world. Only extent differs. No country has been ever able to eliminate the problem of truck overloading.

• The problem in India is more pronounced. Within India too, the Northern States like UP, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana & Punjab etc. are the worst affected

• Some States like J&K, Gujarat, Maharashtra etc. have been successfully able to control the menace to a greater extent.

Overloading of Vehicles• It poses a serious threat to human life on road.• significantly impairs the driver's ability to brake and

steer correctly.• causes excessive wear and damage to roads, bridges,

and pavements etc. • causes undue strain on tyres with the risk of tyre

failure.• causes the vehicle to be wholly unstable, especially on

corners or at roundabouts. • Consequently results in unfair competition for other

transporters.• According to research, a 5 percent overload can lead

to a 22 percent increase in road damage and an 18 percent decrease in pavement life.

Historically, the overloading not only continued but also thrived on the unholy nexus of Transporter- Bureaucracy-Police-Politician.

Reasons for persistence of the Problem• Intention of the transporter to maximize the

earnings from each vehicle.• Loopholes in existing Laws.• Inadequate manpower in the office of RTA.• Absence of separate enforcement wing.• Inadequate Infrastructure with RTA.• Information leakages in the system.• The strong information network of

transporters. (e.g. whatsapp group, dedicated hired persons etc.)

Overcoming the Overloading• There is a need to install electronic weighing bridges at

toll-booths across national and state highways to prevent rampant overloading of trucks. These weighing bridges will be connected through satellite computers and generate data to avoid human interference and reduce corruption.

• Once an overloaded truck passes through the weighing bridge it will send out an alarm, and generate a fine, which will be realized by the official of transport department deputed there.

• Some of the States like Gujarat, J&K, Andhra Pradesh etc. have successfully able to control the problem of overload by putting electronic weigh bridges on borders as well as on major roads

Overcoming the Overloading

• The existing laws need to be amended to make them more stringent.

• Rightsizing the over-dimensional vehicles.• Creating a database of habitual offenders.• Suspension of driving license.• Suspension of RC, Permit of the vehicle.• Strengthening the office of Secretary, RTA.• Strengthening the infrastructure.• Creating a strong counter-network of Information.

Requirement of Officials• Every office of RTA is manned by 6-7 officials,

which insufficient staff strength keeping in view the quantum of work.

• There is no separate enforcement wing. • The officials who do office work & public dealing

during office hours are utilized for checking at night.

• And in the morning they have to mark attendance without fail in the AEBAS.

• The Checking at night obviously involves the risk of life.

• There is no provision of Night Checking allowance.

Requirement of Officials• A separate enforcement wing is required. • There should be a post of Deputy Secretary (Enforcement).• There should be 3-4 Traffic Inspectors and 8-10 Traffic Sub-

Inspectors in each office as there are multiple roads in a district wherein the overload can be detected.

• The Deputy secretary and the Traffic Inspectors shall be vested with the challaning powers.

• That way the three or four enforcement teams can be constituted. The RTA instead of himself doing all the challaning, shall supervise the functioning of these teams. This is the normal practice in most of the States.

• That would result in greater detection of overload and consequent realization of greater revenue.

Re-designation of Officials • Presently, Assistant Secretary is exercising the same

powers conferred upon Secretary, RTA under provisions of Motor Vehicle Act and Rules such as Challaning and impounding of illegal/ unauthorized motor vehicles. But this is a group C post. It needs up gradation to the level of Superintendent.

• Similarly, the nomenclature of the post of Assistant & Clerk may also be changed to Transport Inspector & Transport Sub-Inspector respectively till the time a separate enforcement wing is put in place.

• These officials while checking would wear proper uniform with stars so as to have effective deterrence on the road.

Strengthening Infrastructure• Presently only one vehicle in the office of RTA.• If the Secretary, RTA goes for meetings or to another

district of additional charge, the original office is left vehicle-less & although a challaning authority (Astt. Secretary) is there but still can’t challan in the absence of vehicle.

• In a smaller U.T. like Chandigarh, the office of RTA is having as many as 10 vehicles.

• There is a need to have as many vehicles as the number of teams constituted for enforcement, besides the vehicle of Secretary, RTA.

Strengthening Infrastructure

• The provision of Night Checking allowance may be made. This will not only boost the motivation of officials but will also curb the corruption.

• The vehicles and the officials may be equipped with walkie-talkie so as to ensure better coordination & connectivity even on remote interior roads.

THANKS