Govt fails to utilize Rs298.24 cr collected from road safety cess since 3 yrs

Times of India: Nagpur: Sunday, September 15, 2019.

A social worker filed PIL in Nagpur bench of Bombay high court seeking directives to the Centre and the state to utilize road safety cess/funds collected under the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Tax Act, 1958, for purposes as specified in a Government Resolution (GR).

The GR, dated September 1, 2016, specified establishing road safety cells to analyse road accidents and deploy special flying squads equipped with speed guns and breath analysers on highways and speedways. It also mentioned about developing the intelligent traffic system and popularize its usage, identifying accident-prone spots in the state and providing body wearing cameras to traffic police and regional transport officers (RTO) for their safety and evidence purposes.

While issuing notices to respondents, a division bench comprising justices Ravi Deshpande and Vinay Joshi kept the matter for final disposal on September 11. Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways’ secretary, state transport department’s principal secretary, transport commissioner, chief secretary, and RTO of city and rural areas are made respondents in the PIL (No 49/19).

Quoting information obtained under the RTI Act for the amounts collected by levy and imposition of road safety cess, petitioner Paramjeet Singh Kalsi informed that Rs298.24 crore were collected since 2016-17 till April 30. The commissioner conveyed to him that process of purchasing latest road safety equipment for traffic police and Transport Department officials was underway.

Kalsi counsel Harnish Gadhia contended that despite collecting such big amount in last three years, no policy was fixed or formulated for purchasing the latest road-safety equipment for traffic cops and transport officials. He said if such policy was framed in reasonable time, many fatal mishaps could have been prevented and precious lives could have been saved.

“Fundamental rights under Article 21 of the constitution of India which ensures right to life and personal liberty are at stake for want of road safety measures, as suggested by the Supreme Court and proposed by the state through 2016 GR. It’s necessary to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens by expeditiously framing a scheme/policy for purchase of road safety equipment for the concerned officers,” the lawyer said.

Further citing figures obtained through RTI, the lawyer said the revenue collected by the government was Rs8,671.25 crore in 2018-19, which shows that there’s no paucity of funds. “The only question is why there is a delay in taking appropriate legal steps for ensuring road safety measures till date. Also what happens to such humongous funds collected under the various heads from the public at large. It’s necessary that before the funds collected through road safety cess are diverted for some other works, those should be utilized for the purpose mentioned in the 2016 GR,” he said.