After announcing earlier this year to stop issuing fitness certificates to oversized vehicles in the State, Haryana Government has now announced to grant exemption to such vehicles for further one year if they submit a surety bond of Rs 2.50 lakh along with an undertaking to comply with the prescribed time schedule.
The new policy is notified following receipt of several representations from transport associations across the State to Haryana Government.
As per the new policy forwarded to all secretaries at Regional Transport Authorities in Haryana, the exemption granted is a one-time exemption only, valid for one year/fitness cycle and no new vehicle would be registered unless conforming to the provisions of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.
In order to have proper monitoring, a separate record of the fitness certificates issued to the oversized vehicles would be kept by the concerned Secretary RTA in Haryana.
In case, the transport vehicle having fitness certificate issued under these rules failed to comply with the commitment made in the surety bond-cum-undertaking, necessary steps shall be taken to recover Rs 2.50 lakh from the registered owner of the vehicle, stated the policy.
In a move that had affected more than 40000 truckers, Haryana Government had earlier this year announced to stop issuing fitness certificates to oversized vehicles. The decision came a year after the transporters were given a deadline to adhere to the norms to resize their vehicles — trollies, carriers and trucks transporting two-wheelers and four-wheelers, which ended in January.
Notably, in mid-December 2014 also, Haryana Government had stopped renewing fitness certificates for trucks that did not adhere to the dimension norms. The transporters had then threatened to go on an indefinite strike seeking time to adhere to the norms. Following this, the State Government gave them a year’s exemption which had ended earlier this year.