Charging the Superintendent of Police (Traffic) of Dehradun of purportedly being ignorant of the provisions of Motor Vehicle (MV) Act and rules and regulations of State Government, the federation of Dehradun city buses has demanded his immediate transfer. The federation is perturbed by the penalties imposed by the police personnel and City Patrol Unit (CPU) on the city bus operators and has termed the imposition of such penalties as illegal.
The president of the city bus association, Vijay Vardhan Dandariyal alleged that police personnel are issuing penalty tickets to city bus operators for offences like overloading, not wearing proper uniforms, not providing tickets to passengers, plying on different routes and for not keeping first aid boxes in the buses. He said association has filed a Right to Information (RTI) query in which it was revealed that such penalties can be slapped only by the RTO officials. Dandariyal alleged that the RTO officials are aware of the fact that the police officers are not eligible to slap chalans but they prefer to look other way.
He said that when asked the police officers claim that the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) is empowered to impose penalties under sections 206 and 207 of MV act and he can delegate and authorise the other police officers for imposing Chalan.
Dandariyal averred that the state government can authorise any police officer under sections 206 and 207 but the State Government has issued no such notification which bestows the power of imposing chalans on the police officers and only the officers of transport department have the authority to impose such penalties.
The federation is now planning to seek information from the office of Chief Minister as to how low rung police officers are slapping chalans on city buses despite no issuance of any notification by the state government in this regard.