Hyderabad: A city-based activist has accused the Telangana police of booking challans and fining commuters illegally. Vijay Gopal, the founder of Forum Against Corruption, claims that the state police are acting in violation of the Motor Vehicle Act according to which the maximum speed limit in municipalities is 60 kmph.
The activist has alleged that the cops are fining motorists at a meagre 40 kmph.
“60 kmph is the limit in the city and any reduction must be through a gazette and not circulars of the police,” Vijay said in a tweet tagging the DGP CV Anand and Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic on Twitter. He also tagged the Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari asking him to intervene.
Vijay Gopal shared a copy of the evidence with Siasat.com, which he has downloaded from the e-challan website of the Telangana State Police. Several challans issued show that the speed limit varies from one place to another in the municipalities, while according to law it should be a constant 60 kmph.
In one instance, the police have booked a challan for 62 kmph speed and the required speed limit set in the traffic police software is 40kmph at SVS Ramaram, Warangal.
In another instance, a motorist has been fined for 94 kmph speed on Malleboinapally NH44 and the required speed limit is set at 80 kmph when according to law it should be 100 kmph on national highways.
Many people on Twitter responded to his tweet and shared instances of the same.
When contacted by Siasat.com, the Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Vijay Kumar refuted the claims made by the activist. “The case is of 2020 and we have corrected it. We are only filing challans on motorists who violate the 60kmph speed limit. People do approach now and then informing us that they have been fined wrongly and such cases are reverified and rectified. The speed limit in the city according to law is 60 kmph and that is what we follow,” he said.
What the law says?
Section 112(1) of the Motor Vehicle Act (MVA) 1988 says “No person shall drive a motor vehicle or cause or allow a motor vehicle to be driven in any public place at a speed exceeding the maximum speed or below the minimum speed fixed for the vehicle under this Act or by or under any other law for the time being in force: Provided that such maximum speed shall in no case exceed the maximum fixed for any motor vehicle or class or description of motor vehicles by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette.”
Section 112(2) of the MVA, 1988 says “The State Government or any authority authorised in this behalf by the State Government may, if satisfied that it is necessary to restrict the speed of motor vehicles in the interest of public safety or convenience or because of the nature of any road or bridge, by notification in the Official Gazette, and by causing appropriate traffic signs to be placed or erected under section 116 at suitable places, fix such maximum speed limits or minimum speed limits as it thinks fit for motor vehicles or any specified class or description of motor vehicles or for motor vehicles to which a trailer is attached, either generally or in a particular area or on a particular road or roads: Provided that no such notification is necessary if any restriction under this section is to remain in force for not more than one month.”