Bhubaneswar: A traffic rules violator got a taste of the new MV Act 2019 which came into effect Sunday. An auto-rickshaw driver was found drunk and the owner was fined a whopping `47,500 near Acharya Vihar square here Wednesday.
The Bhubaneswar regional transport office issued the challan against the former owner of the vehicle Kanduri Khatua – a resident of Gania in Nayagarh district as the documents related to ownership transfer have not yet been processed.
The present owner of the vehicle, Hari Bandhu Kanhar, a resident of Badagada was driving the vehicle in a drunken state and did not have the necessary papers.
According to the challan, the autorickshaw bearing registration No. OR02AQ-2243 did not have the requisite route permit, insurance, registration certificate or pollution certificate.
The penalty includes `500 for general offence, `5,000 for allowing unauthorised person to drive the vehicle, `5,000 for having invalid driving licence (DL), `10,000 for drunken driving, `10,000 for violating air/noise pollution, `5,000 for using vehicle without registration and fitness certificate, `10,000 for violating permit conditions and `2,000 for plying the vehicle without insurance.
According to sources close to Khatua, the pre-used vehicle was bought for `25,000 recently.
“Recently, I bought an auto-rickshaw to eke out a living. But, the police have levied a hefty fine. I can’t deposit the fine as I don’t have the money,” said Khatua.
Admitting that he had consumed alcohol, driver Kanhar said: “I cannot pay such huge amount of penalty. Let them seize my vehicle or send me to jail, I cannot pay the amount.”
He also claimed that he has all the documents at home. Meanwhile, officials said they have detained both the driver and the vehicle.
In a similar case, a Delhi man was fined `23,000 Tuesday for riding a motorcycle without wearing a helmet and also for not carrying the relevant documents.