Keep unfit vehicles off road: HC

The High Court on Monday asked the government and the police to keep unfit motor vehicles off the roads across the country.

The bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and  also asked the authorities to seize 18.77 lakh ‘fake driving licences’ and take action against the holders of the fake licences.
The bench asked secretaries to the ministries of the road transport and bridges, and home affairs, the inspector general of police and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority chairman to take necessary measures for the implementation of the directives.
The road transport authority chairman was also asked to report the court the compliance in 30 days.
The court posted for September 2 its further order on the matter.
It also asked the respondents to explain what actions they had taken so far even after having the knowledge that around 19 lakh fake licences were being held by unskilled drivers causing fatal traffic road accidents across the country.
The respondents, including secretaries to the ministries of the road transport and bridges, and home affairs, the inspector general of police and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority chairman, were asked to reply to the ruling in four weeks.
The court passed the order suo moto after taking cognisance of a report published in the Daily Sun on August 2 under caption ‘Road Accidents: 19 lakh fake drivers rule the highways.’
The court also asked the reporter, Partha Sarathi Das, to submit to it an authenticated copy of the report.
At least 191 people were killed in 154 traffic accidents in the country in a single week from July 15 to 21
as 19 lakh fake drivers were are ruling the highways recklessly, said the report.
It said that some 60 per cent of the accidents took place because of the faults of the drivers, who included adolescents.
It also said that 1.98 lakh driving licences were allegedly issued without examination and the licences were being renewed without any tests.
The court directive came at a time when various government actions, including ban on unfit vehicles and auto-rickshaws in highways, failed to check road accidents. The government had also set up speed breakers and rumble strips on ‘216 black spots’ identified by the Accident Research Institute on the Dhaka-Aricha highway to prevent accidents.
Government statistics showed that eight people were killed on an average in road accidents every day in the country while the World Bank and the World Health Organisation reported the death toll as 30 and 48 respectively.
On August 25, 2011, another High Court bench asked the authority not to issue driving licences without proper tests and due process of law.
In November 2011, the authority responding to the order had told the court that it had issued about 10,000 driving licences to lorry drivers on ‘easy terms,’ a practice that it now says has been in place from 2003.
The authority had said that the issuance of 24,000 more driving licences were under process.
It had also said that road transport system would be paralysed causing a total collapse of the food and essential supply chain if it the 10,000 driving licences issued without proper tests were cancelled.
The High Court had, however, later withdrawn its order that had stayed the issuance of the 24,000 driving licences following an appeal of the authority.
The court had also asked the government to submit reports about particulars and number of driving licences issued in the previous five years with remarks as to whether the applicants successfully passed the tests, the number of licences renewed during the same period with remarks as to whether they were found physically fit and capable of driving vehicles, the criteria used for the issuance and renewal of licences and whether any medical examination was held to determine the fitness of the drivers.
The authority had also been asked to report the determination of the fitness of the vehicles and the issuance of fitness certificate of vehicles and the criteria used for the issuance of fitness certificate of the vehicles and measures taken against the disqualified vehicles and measures taken against illegal or fake licence holders.
The matter is still pending with another High Court bench.