The owner of a private bus, Nirankar Singh claimed that he had been issued a fine of Rs 500 allegedly because the driver was "not wearing a helmet". Nirankar Singh said the online challan was made on September 11, and one of his employees checked it on Friday. Singh said he would be contesting the penalty in court if needed. The city-based transporter said his son looks after the transport business and they have about 40-50 buses, which are engaged with schools and private companies in Noida and Greater Noida.

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Private bus owner on challans

"My concern is that such a mistake reflects poorly on the Transport Department," Singh told PTI. "It raises questions on the working of such a responsible department and makes people wonder about the authenticity of other hundreds of challans being issued daily."

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"I will be taking up the matter with concerned officials tomorrow and will approach the court of law if the need be," he added. Officials, meanwhile, said the matter was being looked into and an error, if any, would be rectified. "The challan was issued by an official of the Transport Department and not the Noida traffic police," the official added. The same bus, according to officials, had been earlier penalised four times for seat-belt violation. Singh contended that if it was a seat-belt offence then the challan should mention seat belt and not helmet. "If there is any error on our part, we will pay penalty for that, but it has to be genuine," he said. The challan was issued under provisions of the new Motor Vehicles Act. Transporters in the National Capital Region had went on a strike on Thursday to protest the high rates of penalties under the amended law. 

Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The Bill came into effect from September 1 and it was approved by the President of India. The government has notified 63 clauses that deal with penalties, licences, registration and National Transport Policy, among others. The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill will tighten road traffic regulations such as allotment of driving licence and impose stricter penalties for violations in an attempt to improve road safety. The Bill also increases the minimum compensation for hit and run cases. In case of death, from Rs 25,000 to two lakh rupees, and in case of grievous injury, from Rs 12,500 to Rs 50,000.

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In addition, the Bill also allows the Central government to order for recall of motor vehicles if a defect in the vehicle may cause damage to the environment, or the driver, or other road users. New penalties have been prescribed for carrying of excess passengers, failure to use safety belt and violation of rules in seating of children, violation of safety measures for motorcycle drivers and pillion riders, refusal to stop and submit vehicle for weighing, use of phones in silent zones and failure to allow free passage to emergency vehicles. Besides, the new rules enable state governments to designate any person or agency as the enforcement agency to detect and impose a penalty on overloaded vehicles.

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(With PTI Inputs)