Taking a serious view of the grant of stage carriage permit to vehicles like Vikrams and Tata Magics by the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), the Uttarakhand High Court (HC) has issued stay orders on the decision of RTA.
The RTA in its meeting on May 20 had given its approval to the proposal to convert contract carriage permit of Vikrams and Tata magics to stage carriage. Interestingly the transport department increased the number of approved seats from six (passengers) and one (driver) to seven plus one to grant them permit of stage carriage.
The president of City Bus association Vijay Vardhan Dandariyal brought the issue to the notice of High Court which ordered that the small vehicles like three wheelers, Tempo, Vikrams, maximo and Tata Magics can not be given stage carriage permits under section 41 of Motor vehicles act. The HC also questioned the tempering the chassis of vehicles to increase the seat capacity. When contacted the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) of Dehradun Dinesh Chandra Pathoi, who also is the secretary of RTA told The Pioneer that his office has received the copy of HC order and he is studying the order.
The decision of RTA to grant stage carriage permits to Vikrams and Tata magics benifited hundreds of such vehicles operating in the city as they were demanding for a long time for grant of such permits. There are 774 Vikrams which are operating in the city roads and the HC decision has come as a blow to them.In another development a bus operator Om Prakash has threatened to sue the RTA commissioner and secretary for contempt of a Supreme Court order.
The SC on July 09, 2013 had ordered for status quo while hearing petition of Om Prakash on routes in Doiwala area of Dehradun. The RTA had granted temporary route permits to Harbans lal and Hukum Chan Gop on Doiwala route recently.