BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka directed that the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) have to obtain a fitness certificate every year from the concerned Regional Transport Officers (RTO) to ensure the safety of passengers by avoiding accidents due to poor condition of buses. “The RTO authorities should not have any casual approach in inspecting and certifying fitness of the buses to ply on the road,” the court said while underlining the safety of passengers.
This is one among the series of directives issued by Justice Ramachandra D Huddar while commuting the sentence of Satish, a KSRTC driver for causing an accident resulting in the death of two students at Ankola of Uttara Kannada District in 2006, to six months from one-year simple imprisonment imposed by a trial court.
The court also directed the KSRTC’s mechanical department to certify about the fitness of the buses “fit for road” and such buses are to be permitted to ply only after issuance of the certificate. It said that there shall be a periodical mechanical examination and repair of the buses. As per the rules framed by the KSRTC, on completion of a particular running of km such buses are bound to be scrapped and such scrapped buses should not be permitted to be used for any scheduled routes, the HC said.
The directives were issued given the statement given by the accused driver that the traffic controller compels the drivers to use buses that are not fit. The court noted that the offending bus had already run more than 10 lakh km and it did not have an ignition starter, horn and brakes. The condition of the bus which is brought on record is quite alarming, the court added.
