HYDERABAD: While the Telangana government has decided not to implement the new Motor Vehicle (MV) Act which imposes heavy penalties for traffic violations, some ministers are brazenly violating traffic rules. Worse still, the ministers, MLAs, MLCs and former public representatives are also blatantly ignoring the challans generated mostly for speeding/dangerous driving. The ministers include finance minister T Harish Rao and energy minister G Jagadish Reddy.
Some ministers have pending challans of nearly Rs 9,000 due to repeated violations. The violations have been noticed mostly on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) where the speed limit is 100 km/hr but the speeding is beyond the permissible limit.
Currently, under Section-184(b) of the MV Act, driving dangerously at high speed or driving dangerously posing a threat to lives of other people invites a penalty of Rs 1,000 for all vehicles. Under IPC-279, in case driving dangerously posing a threat to other people’s lives, the person can also be presented before court.
It may be noted that the government had recently made it clear that it would not implement the increased penalties as per the Centre’s new MV Act. For over-speeding, the penalty was increased to Rs 5,000 from Rs 1,000. The state government, however, has stuck to the old fines.
Energy minister G Jagadish Reddy’s official vehicle has over nine pending challans for speeding/dangerous driving between August 26, 2018 to June 24, 2019. Similarly, there are nine challans pending against finance minister T Harish Rao’s official vehicle totalling to Rs 9,315 for speeding/dangerous driving. While one challan is dated November 10, 2018 when he was irrigation minister in the earlier government, the other eight are from this year before he was inducted into state cabinet.
Health minister Eatala Rajendar’s official car (TS09PA3192) also has pending challans amounting to Rs 4,140 for speeding on four occasions.
Whether the ministers were in the cars at the time of the violation cannot be ascertained but considering the timings registered, they were all during the day at different places, most of them on the ORR“It is individual drivers who have to pay the fine.
They have to check the website for any e-challans generated against their vehicles and pay them,” a DSP rank officer in the intelligence department told TOI. The vehicles are registered in the name of the IG, intelligence.
For ministers, official vehicles and drivers are provided by the government through the Police Transport Organisation. In quite a few cases, speeding takes place on the ORR where over 25 speed-guns have been installed, e-challans are generated automatically. “All vehicles are booked, irrespective of whether they are official vehicles or private vehicles,” an official said.
However, sources said no effort was specifically made to trace the violators who have been booked. The only way the offenders are caught is when traffic cops randomly check their tabs to see if a vehicle has any challans pending. As many as six challans are pending against the personal vehicle registered to BJP MLC N Ramachander Rao and these pertain to speeding/dangerous driving.
Some ministers have pending challans of nearly Rs 9,000 due to repeated violations. The violations have been noticed mostly on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) where the speed limit is 100 km/hr but the speeding is beyond the permissible limit.
Currently, under Section-184(b) of the MV Act, driving dangerously at high speed or driving dangerously posing a threat to lives of other people invites a penalty of Rs 1,000 for all vehicles. Under IPC-279, in case driving dangerously posing a threat to other people’s lives, the person can also be presented before court.
It may be noted that the government had recently made it clear that it would not implement the increased penalties as per the Centre’s new MV Act. For over-speeding, the penalty was increased to Rs 5,000 from Rs 1,000. The state government, however, has stuck to the old fines.
Energy minister G Jagadish Reddy’s official vehicle has over nine pending challans for speeding/dangerous driving between August 26, 2018 to June 24, 2019. Similarly, there are nine challans pending against finance minister T Harish Rao’s official vehicle totalling to Rs 9,315 for speeding/dangerous driving. While one challan is dated November 10, 2018 when he was irrigation minister in the earlier government, the other eight are from this year before he was inducted into state cabinet.
Health minister Eatala Rajendar’s official car (TS09PA3192) also has pending challans amounting to Rs 4,140 for speeding on four occasions.
Whether the ministers were in the cars at the time of the violation cannot be ascertained but considering the timings registered, they were all during the day at different places, most of them on the ORR“It is individual drivers who have to pay the fine.
They have to check the website for any e-challans generated against their vehicles and pay them,” a DSP rank officer in the intelligence department told TOI. The vehicles are registered in the name of the IG, intelligence.
For ministers, official vehicles and drivers are provided by the government through the Police Transport Organisation. In quite a few cases, speeding takes place on the ORR where over 25 speed-guns have been installed, e-challans are generated automatically. “All vehicles are booked, irrespective of whether they are official vehicles or private vehicles,” an official said.
However, sources said no effort was specifically made to trace the violators who have been booked. The only way the offenders are caught is when traffic cops randomly check their tabs to see if a vehicle has any challans pending. As many as six challans are pending against the personal vehicle registered to BJP MLC N Ramachander Rao and these pertain to speeding/dangerous driving.
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