Emission OK isn’t okay for RTA staff!

Emission OK isn’t okay for RTA staff!
By P M Raghunandan, DH News Service, Bangalore:
An emission certificate from an authorised centre and a fitness certificate from the RTA itself will not rescue one from the high-handedness of RTA officials.

Having a valid emission certificate for your vehicle would no longer mean your vehicle is pollution-free, if the Road Transport Authority’s (RTA) new rule is anything to go by.

The RTA officials can stop you and confiscate your driving licence even if you have an emission certificate from an authorised centre and even if you have obtained a fitness certificate for your vehicle from the RTA itself.

Then who is authorised to confirm the emission certificate is genuine? The officials themselves! Sounds strange, but it’s true. This “high-handedness” of the RTA officials came to light recently when a reader, who fell victim, complained to this paper.

When Mr T S Ananthu was driving a four-wheeler on February 23, 2007, an RTA official stopped the vehicle for a routine check near BDA complex in Koramangala.

He verified all the documents, including emission test certificate, and found no lapses.



Air pollution

Then, he asked driver Nanje Gowda to increase accelerator in neutral mode. On doing so, he declared there was a problem in emission and the vehicle was causing air pollution. He also seized the driving licence by issuing a “Check Report-cum-Receipt.”

“I was taken aback by the official’s action. The emission test certificate was valid till May 1, 2007 and only a fortnight ago (on February 5, 2007) I had obtained the fitness certificate. But the official insisted the vehicle was causing pollution,” Mr Ananthu, an IIT graduate and honorary secretary of Navadarshanam Trust, Anekal, told Deccan Herald.



“Expert” check

When Mr Ananthu asked the official how he could prove that the vehicle had an emission problem, the latter curtly replied he was an “expert.”

He did not even bother to tell Mr Ananthu what he was supposed to do next. According to the driver, the Yeshwanthpur RTA officials had checked the vehicle documents the same day at Malleswaram.

But they allowed him to go as all the documents were in order. “Strangely, Koramangala RTA officials found a fault in emission and took away my licence,” he added. On receiving the complaint, this paper spoke to officials in both Koramangala RTA and the State Transport Department, only to learn an official is the final authority to check emission and she/he is “trained” in this regard.



J Gnanendra Kumar, RTO, Koramangala

My department officials can easily identify polluting vehicles. We don’t need any equipment to check pollution levels.

The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has given us smoke meters, but most of them do not function. A vehicle owner may have valid certificates such as the fitness certificate issued by us and certificate issued by certified smoke testing centres.

Still, the vehicle can be causing pollution. So, we go by the level of pollution and not just certificates. If anyone wants to lodge a complaint, they can email it to the transport department.



Vijay Vikram,

Joint Commissioner, Transport department, (Enforcement)

The Assistant Regional Transport Officers are experts in emission. If an official finds a particular vehicle is causing pollution, she/he can confiscate the driving licence and direct the owner to produce another emission test certificate. Only when the owner produces another certificate will the licence will be released. Mr Vikram strongly denied that it was RTA’s highhandedness and claimed it was an effort to prevent air pollution.

When asked what was the guarantee that another RTA would not stop the same vehicle again and insist on going through the procedure all over again, he said vehicle owners have to co-operate for the cause of environment.Emission OK isn’t okay for RTA staff!
By P M Raghunandan, DH News Service, Bangalore:
An emission certificate from an authorised centre and a fitness certificate from the RTA itself will not rescue one from the high-handedness of RTA officials.

Having a valid emission certificate for your vehicle would no longer mean your vehicle is pollution-free, if the Road Transport Authority’s (RTA) new rule is anything to go by.

The RTA officials can stop you and confiscate your driving licence even if you have an emission certificate from an authorised centre and even if you have obtained a fitness certificate for your vehicle from the RTA itself.

Then who is authorised to confirm the emission certificate is genuine? The officials themselves! Sounds strange, but it’s true. This “high-handedness” of the RTA officials came to light recently when a reader, who fell victim, complained to this paper.

When Mr T S Ananthu was driving a four-wheeler on February 23, 2007, an RTA official stopped the vehicle for a routine check near BDA complex in Koramangala.

He verified all the documents, including emission test certificate, and found no lapses.



Air pollution

Then, he asked driver Nanje Gowda to increase accelerator in neutral mode. On doing so, he declared there was a problem in emission and the vehicle was causing air pollution. He also seized the driving licence by issuing a “Check Report-cum-Receipt.”

“I was taken aback by the official’s action. The emission test certificate was valid till May 1, 2007 and only a fortnight ago (on February 5, 2007) I had obtained the fitness certificate. But the official insisted the vehicle was causing pollution,” Mr Ananthu, an IIT graduate and honorary secretary of Navadarshanam Trust, Anekal, told Deccan Herald.



“Expert” check

When Mr Ananthu asked the official how he could prove that the vehicle had an emission problem, the latter curtly replied he was an “expert.”

He did not even bother to tell Mr Ananthu what he was supposed to do next. According to the driver, the Yeshwanthpur RTA officials had checked the vehicle documents the same day at Malleswaram.

But they allowed him to go as all the documents were in order. “Strangely, Koramangala RTA officials found a fault in emission and took away my licence,” he added. On receiving the complaint, this paper spoke to officials in both Koramangala RTA and the State Transport Department, only to learn an official is the final authority to check emission and she/he is “trained” in this regard.



J Gnanendra Kumar, RTO, Koramangala

My department officials can easily identify polluting vehicles. We don’t need any equipment to check pollution levels.

The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has given us smoke meters, but most of them do not function. A vehicle owner may have valid certificates such as the fitness certificate issued by us and certificate issued by certified smoke testing centres.

Still, the vehicle can be causing pollution. So, we go by the level of pollution and not just certificates. If anyone wants to lodge a complaint, they can email it to the transport department.



Vijay Vikram,

Joint Commissioner, Transport department, (Enforcement)

The Assistant Regional Transport Officers are experts in emission. If an official finds a particular vehicle is causing pollution, she/he can confiscate the driving licence and direct the owner to produce another emission test certificate. Only when the owner produces another certificate will the licence will be released. Mr Vikram strongly denied that it was RTA’s highhandedness and claimed it was an effort to prevent air pollution.

When asked what was the guarantee that another RTA would not stop the same vehicle again and insist on going through the procedure all over again, he said vehicle owners have to co-operate for the cause of environment.