Traffic mess: Just Rs100 to keep ‘unfit’ cars on the road

Supreme Court seeks details of penalties on traffic violations.

KARACHI:

One hundred rupees is too lax a penalty for unfit commercial vehicles. That’s why thousands of buses cough, splutter and belch their way through Karachi daily immune to the traffic police who do not have the power to impound them.

The information must have surprised the judges hearing the Karachi suo motu implementation case on Tuesday.

The five-judge larger bench of the Supreme Court, therefore, directed the Additional Inspector-General of Traffic Police to submit a report on all types of penalties for motorists in violation of traffic laws.

The court had earlier ordered the traffic police to take action against thousands of buses and minibuses with no safety and fitness certificates.

On Tuesday, AIG Zakir Hussain told the bench that Karachi has had a vehicular population of nearly 2.7 million, of which over one million are motorcycles.

In line with the court’s order, 19,539 vehicles were examined and found to be fit for the roads. But, another 1,104 were declared unfit.

The judges asked why those unfit buses were not taken off the roads. The officer replied that the police had no legal powers to do this. The officer said they could not even cancel the registration.

Additional Advocate-General Muhammad Sarwar Khan said the existing motor vehicle law was outdated.

“The government passes laws of its choice overnight,” remarked Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali. “Every day we face this dilemma,” he added.



The judges, who live in Karachi, were of the opinion that the existing public transport was not worth using. “Our concern is the implementation of existing laws. We are not asking for more than that,” said Justice Khilji. “The situation in the city is serious despite orders passed by the court,” he added.

An officer said nearly six million commuters travel daily in public buses of which hardly 15,000 were registered. He blamed the bad public transport on the lack of the Karachi Circular Railway.

The judges noted that the mafia was behind the suspension of the circular railway. “Why should the general manager (Pakistan Railways) not be issued notice to explain why this service has been disbanded,” they remarked.

Manpower

AIG Zakir submitted that there were 3,200 traffic police personnel to regulate transport and enforce traffic laws in the city that is 18 million people. Also, 250 personnel out of 500 additional were ordered by the court have also been added to the force to address the problem, he added.

Additional chief secretary for the home department, Waseem Ahmed, blamed that provincial transport department’s secretary who was asked to make a request to the chief minister for amendments to the existing motor vehicle laws. He did not do it. Ahmed requested to the court to call the transport secretary and seek an explanation.

“It’s unfortunate that they protect their own interests, but all the projects in public interest are still in the pipeline,” the bench remarked.

The bench called the transport secretary to explain himself on Wednesday.

6 million commuters travel daily in public buses of which hardly 15,000 are registered with the government.

2.7 million is the number of vehicles in Karachi. Over one million are motorcycles.

3,200 is the number of traffic police for a city of 18 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2013.