Govt hikes fitness test fee for over 20-year-old motor vehicles
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New Delhi (PTI): Months after the government increased renewal charges for older vehicles, the transport ministry has raised the fitness test fee for motor vehicles older than 20 years to discourage people from keeping them.
The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), in a latest notification issued on November 11, has said the higher fee slabs now begin from 10 years for commercial vehicles instead of 15 years, bringing more vehicles under the updated cost brackets.
It has created three clear age groups for fitness testing: 10-15 years, 15-20 years and above 20 years.
According to the notification, the renewal fee for light motor vehicles (LMVs) older than 20 years has been increased to Rs 15,000 from Rs 10,000.
The notification has made steep revisions to the fitness test fee for heavy trucks and buses older than 20 years. They will now have to pay Rs 25,000 for the fitness test, from Rs 3,500 earlier.
Medium commercial vehicles in the same age group will now have to pay Rs 20,000, and the fitness test of light motor vehicles above 20 years will cost Rs 15,000.
The fitness test fee for two-wheelers above 20 years has also been increased to Rs 2,000 from Rs 600 earlier.
The transport ministry, in its earlier notification in August this year, increased renewal charges for older vehicles.
In August, the Supreme Court ordered authorities not to take coercive action against the owners of diesel vehicles that are more than 10 years old and petrol vehicles older than 15 years in the Delhi-NCR.
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'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
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Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
