On September 5, a truck owner in Rajasthan had to pay a challan to the tune of Rs 1,41,700 for overloading his truck in Delhi. The challan receipt read the name of the owner of the truck, Harman Ram Bhambh, who paid the penalty for overloading under the amended Motor Vehicles Act. 

“My driver was fined on September 5 in Delhi when he went to deliver silica sand to a customer,” he said. “It took us five days to arrange the money, and we made the payment on September 9 after which the vehicle was released,” said Harman Ram Bhambh. The driver and the owner paid the penalty of Rs 1,41,700, at Rohini court on Monday.

The picture of the challan went viral on social media and the internet remains divided on the incident as some see the decision of penalising the truck owner as unacceptable while others see it as a lesson for every traffic offender.

Delhi: A truck owner from Rajasthan paid challan amount of Rs 1,41,700 at Rohini court on September 9 for overloading the truck on September 5. pic.twitter.com/2P4G9JqDgR

— ANI (@ANI) September 10, 2019

Earlier in the month, a truck driver in Odisha was issued a challan of Rs 86,500. Ashok, the driver, was fined for giving an unauthorised person the permission to drive (fined Rs 5,000), driving without a licence (fined Rs 5,000), overloading (fined Rs 56,000), carrying over dimension projections (fined Rs 20,000) and a general offence (fined Rs 500). However, the matter was later settled in Rs 70,000, after the driver produced some documents.

In the first few days of its implementation, the amended Motor Vehicles Act has accumulated the highest penalty in the country of over Rs 88 lakh. The penalty for overloading of goods carriers has been drastically increased to Rs 20,000 with Rs 2,000 for each additional tonne under the amended act. 

The Odisha Transport Department imposed Rs 88 lakh as a penalty, the highest in the country. An auto-rickshaw driver in Bhubaneswar was slapped with a fine of Rs 47,500 last week for riding without an authentic driving licence, registration certification, insurance certificate and also for drunken driving.

Amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act came into force on September 1. The legislation aims at stricter traffic rules and regulations and imposes punishments for violation in a bid to improve road safety.

Also Read: Penalties Under The New Motor Vehicle Act-Too Strict Or A Good Deterrent?