Fixes April 6 deadline for fitting transport vehicles with the device
Panaji: Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho on Thursday said the government has set the April 6 deadline for fitting speed governors in public transport vehicles including taxis and rent-a-cabs.
He told mediapersons that action will be initiated against those who fail to equip the transport vehicles with the speed limiting device by April 6.
The Rule 118 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 mandates that every transport vehicle shall be equipped or fitted with a ‘speed governor having maximum preset speeds for different categories as specified in the Rule, conforming to the Standard AIS 018/2001, as amended from time to time.
Under this rule, the transport department has made installation of speed governors to public transport vehicles including rental cabs.
“Permits of those operators, who fail to fit their taxis and rent-a-cabs with speed governors by April 6, will be cancelled and vehicles will be confiscated, the minister warned.
He also ruled out granting any relaxation to public transport vehicles on the speed governor installation.
“There is no question of doing away or relaxing with the rule on speed governors as the installation is mandated by the central Motor Vehicle Act. All public transport vehicles must be fitted with the speed limiting device within a month’s time,” he insisted.
Godinho said strict enforcement will begin from April 7 and the vehicles found operating without speed governors will be compounded and their permits will be cancelled.
“I cannot tolerate rash and negligent driving on roads, which puts innocent lives in danger,” he said, adding that the government will not put up with any action that jeopardises the profitable tourism sector.
The Transport Minister also criticised the Goan taxi industry for opposing the entry of ride-sharing services like Ola and Uber, saying that Goa is mocked at for closing its doors on reasonably priced transport services.
“People are laughing at us: these cab aggregators are operating all over the country and there is not a single operator one in Goa,” he observed.
Rental cabs come under High Court scanner over third-party risk coverage
Panaji: Given the alarming rise in road accidents involving uninsured vehicles, the High Court of Bombay at Goa has directed officials of the transport department and police personnel to verify the third-party insurance cover status of all the vehicles operating under the rent-a-cab or rent-a-bike scheme formulated by the state government.
“The vehicles under the scheme having no insurance cover as contemplated by Sections 196 and 146 of the M.V. Act for covering third-party risks should not be allowed on the public roads in the state of Goa,” the HC said.
The High Court division bench comprising Justice MS Sonak and Justice Valmiki SA Menezes further observed, “It shall be the joint responsibility of the officials of the transport department and the police officials to ensure this.”
The transport department and the police officials must consider issuing necessary circulars/directions to the officials at all checkpoints entry into the state to check whether the vehicles entering Goa have insurance cover as contemplated by Sections 196 and 146 of the Motor Vehicle Act, i.e. the third party risks insurance cover, the High Court said.
“If the vehicles do not have requisite third-party risk insurance coverage, the transport department and police officials must consider whether such vehicles should be allowed to enter the state of Goa,” the court said.
The general directions came from the High Court in a petition related to an accident where an uninsured Maharashtra-registered vehicle was involved in an accident at Nuvem.
It was brought to the notice of the High Court details about the spate of accidents involving vehicles/cabs under the rent-a-cab scheme.
Consequently the High Court directed police and transport department officials, courts, executive magistrates and all other concerned officials to comply with the provisions of Rule 299A (Prohibition against release of motor vehicle involved in accident) of the Goa Motor Vehicles Rules, 1991, the directions issued by the Supreme Court in Jai Prakash (supra) and Usha Devi (supra) and the orders made by this court in the present petition strictly.
The High Court said, “The Director General of Police must issue a Circular to all the Police Stations apprising them of Rule 299A of the said Rules, copies of the decisions of the Supreme Court in Jai Prakash (supra) and Usha Devi (supra) and copies of orders dated 21.02.2024 and present order made in this petition. Such Circular must be issued within 15 days and a copy of this Circular must be marked for information to the Collectors of North and South Goa Districts, and a compliance report must be filed in this Court within four weeks.”
The collectors of North and South Goa districts must issue similar circulars or may forward a copy of the DGP’s circular to all the executive magistrates apprising them of Rule 299A, the decisions of the Supreme Court in Jai Prakash (supra) and Usha Devi (supra) and the orders made in this petition. The collectors must complete this exercise within four weeks, the High Court said.