After the imposition of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act with provision for higher penalties for violation of traffic regulations from September 1, the vehicle owners here have been rushing to get their paperwork done. Many, however, are still in confusion about how much they have to pay or under what charges they can also get sentenced to jail. State Transport Minister Yashpal Arya said, “In the upcoming Cabinet meeting, the matter of compounding rates will be discussed. After that we will arrive at some decision.”
Dehradun Regional Transport Officer Dinesh Pathoi clarified that until the State Government issues the new compounding rates, compounding fees will be charged as per the old rates. This, however, will not be applicable on the charges that have been excluded from the list of charges under compoundable traffic offences.
RTO Pathoi said, “Under the section 200 of the MV Act, the State is authorised to establish compounding rates of traffic offences with few exceptions. Unless the administration issues such a notification we will be taking compounding fees as per the old rates. It is important to understand that only the court is authorised to take penalty or sentence someone.
Those people who will be taking their cases to the court will be penalised and sentenced as per the amended MV Act. For example if someone is found driving drunk, the case will be handled by the court.”
It is pertinent to mention here that since the imposition of MV Amedment Act, the number of citizens going to get the Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate and insurance updated has increased considerably.
So much so that people are registering their names in advance so as to get their turn on time.
This however has also given a chance to those people who are looking to exploit a person’s need in order to gain some extra profit. RTO Pathoi stated that if any such person or centre is out there, then any aware citizen can file a written complaint in the office after which strict actions will be taken against them.
He further said that he will also speak with the State Transport Authority to get the licence of the accused person cancelled.