Port Blair, Jan 12: Mr Vishal Jolly, National Executive Member BJP, former State President, BJP, A & N Islands and Home Ministry Advisory Committee, GoI has requested for relaxation and exemption to obtain fitness certificate of commercial vehicle without late fee through his letter addressed to Chief Secretary, A & N Administration.
In the letter, he stated that as per the new Motor Vehicle Act 2021 the penalty or fine for not having a valid fitness certificate for a commercial vehicle is Rs. 50/- has been imposed per day by the transport authority while obtaining a fresh fitness certificate. He pointed out that due to lockdown, COVID restriction and lack of awareness many commercial vehicle owners could not obtain fitness certificates of their vehicles in time resulting in huge late fees which they are not able to bear as the commercial vehicle owners have already facing lot financial hardship during the lockdown period as the tourism and other commercial activities completely shutdown considering the ongoing COVID pandemic. Thus the same has also affected their livelihood and they are not able to get the fitness of their vehicles due to such huge late fees.
Further he also added that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) extended the validity of the motor vehicle documents till September 30, 2021, in view of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Jolly requested that the fitness certificate expired before 1/2/2020, the late fee fine for the period from 1/2/2020 to 31/10/2021 may be exempted in the line of the MoRTH instruction which was extended on Motor Vehicle documents till 30th September, 2021 as a special ground for considering the present financial hardship face by the commercial vehicle owners, so as to enable these commercial vehicle owners to ply the vehicles and earn a living in these tough times.
