Chandigarh: Dealers who don’t have the testing equipment have started certifying the fitness of motor vehicles. National Road Safety Council member Kamal Soi on Tuesday highlighted issues in implementing the vehicle fitness certificates rule, which he claims impedes enforcement of Section 56 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1998, in Haryana.
He claimed in a media interaction that despite representations, the Haryana government had not corrected the decision. Soi said: “On June 23, the transport commissioner had instructed all DTO-cum-RTAs across Haryana to authorise the dealers liked to the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to operate as ‘authorized testing stations’ for vehicle fitness, each specific to the make that the dealer sells.”
The Motor Vehicle Amendment Act, 2019, mandates that the fitness testing of commercial vehicles must be through the automated vehicle I&C centres. The road transport ministry is yet to announce the implementation date, but Soi said that despite these changes in the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), the transport department had gone ahead and issued 30-to-35 authority letters to various dealers linked to the OEMs.
He said: “These dealers have access to the VAHAN portal to get the vehicle details and upload the fitness certificates. They don’t have the testing equipment as laid out in the CMVR yet they have started issuing the fitness certificates in violation of the law. The big issue is that this whole Haryana transport department scheme may violate CMVR 176 about conflict of interest.” Soi seeks checks and balances in executing this policy to ensure that only fit vehicles are on the road. He has requested the minister concerned to intervene.