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Nearly 5 lakh vehicles sans fitness certificate

HC asks owners to collect fitness certificates by Sept 30


Published : 23 Jul 2019 09:43 PM | Updated : 01 Sep 2020 07:56 PM

A total of 4,79,320 vehicles including buses, coaches, trucks, covered vans and other automobiles are running on roads and highways across the country without proper fitness certificates, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) said in a report it presented before the High Court on Tuesday. According to the report submitted before the HC by BRTA's lawyer Advocate Rafiul Islam, of the vehicles without fitness certificate, 2,61,113 are in Dhaka division, 1,19,588 in Chattogram division, 26,240 in Rajshahi, 6,588 in Rangpur, 15,668 in Khulna, 4,4805 in Sylhet and 5,338 in Barishal division.

The BRTA report went on to say that Tk 6,72,23,392 has been collected as fines for driving unfit vehicles this year. Following the submission of the report, the High Court issued directive to vehicle owners to renew fitness certificate for their vehicles from BRTA by September 30. It also said if any owner does not collect fitness certificate for his outdated vehicle by the stipulated time, those particular vehicles will not be allowed on the roads after September 30.

The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice KM Hafizul Alam fixed October 15 for passing further order on this issue. The court directed the BRTA to submit a detailed report with more information on the unfit vehicles, including their registration numbers and name of owners, within a month. It also directed the BRTA to issue a public notification and circulate advertisement through the print and electronic media informing about the directives.

Talking to reporters, public prosecutor AKM Aminuddin said if the vehicle owners do not follow the court order, the court will issue directive to the authorities concerned to take immediate measures to stop the vehicles which will be running without fitness certificates. On June 24, BRTA submitted a report before the HC during the hearing on a suo moto rule the court issued earlier.