Around 300 applications daily adding to chaos
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Sept 23: Amidst enforcement of heavy penalties under the new Motor Vehicles Act, youngsters in the age group of 16-18 years and their parents are in a tizzy as the Regional Transport Office (RTO) Jammu has suddenly put brakes on granting driving license to these teens for riding gearless scooties even as online applications for the same are continuously being accepted.
The peculiar situation has arisen because of an ambiguity in the Central Motor Vehicle Act, which provides for issuing license to 16-18 age group for below 50 CC gearless scooters though no such scooters are available in India.
Since no two wheelers below 50 CC are available in India, the Regional Transport authorities were earlier adopting an apparent practical approach and had been issuing driving licenses to 16-18 age group for riding gearless scooties with 100 CC engine capacity, which maximum youngsters, mostly girls are seen whizzing past.
However, this practical approach was discarded two months back and RTO Jammu ordered that no license should be issued to 16-18 age group because the available gearless scooties in the market are not below 50 CC.
“Since no scooter below 50 CC is available in India, license to 16-18 age group cannot be issued and hence I ordered for the same,” said RTO Jammu Dhanatar Singh while explaining the reason behind non-issuance of the licenses.
He further informed that a clarification in this regard was also sought from the office of Transport Commissioner and in view of the fact that the Motor Vehicles Act very clearly mentions about below 50 CC capacity of the two-wheeler for license to teens of 16-18 years, a decision was taken to stop issuing the licenses to this age group.
However, on the other hand, online applications as well as the fees for the driving license to ride gearless scooties by the teens of 16-18 age group are still being accepted with the result that hundreds of youngsters of this age group are continuously applying for the DL.
The rush of the applicants for DL has suddenly increased manifold in view of the heavy penalties being imposed under new Motor Vehicle Act, which comes into force since September 1, 2019. The situation can be gauged from the fact that more than 300 applications for the Driving Licenses are being received daily in Jammu, disclosed an official of the RTO Jammu.
Pertinent to mention that according to new provision in the amended MV Act, in case of a juvenile driving a motor vehicle, the guardian/ owner shall be deemed guilty and imposed a penalty of Rs 25000 besides imprisonment up to three years and cancellation of registration of the vehicle for 12 months. Further, the accused juvenile shall be declared ineligible to obtain learners’ license untill the age of 25 years. Only three days back, a fine of Rs 25 thousands was imposed on father of a juvenile for driving scooty in Jammu.
The scare of heavy penalty is leading to unprecedented rush of online applications for driving license by the teens of 16-18 years and more ironic is the fact that their applications along with the fees are being accepted by the official portal developed for the same.
This is adding to the chaos and further harassment of the parents of applicant teens as the concerned authorities are unable to stop accepting and uploading of the online applications on the ‘Sarathi’- software of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways for the creation of a complete computerized database of driving licenses, which cannot be altered, explained the official sources while expressing their inability to avoid inconvenience to people.
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