THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:The disappointing sight of confiscated vehicles lying abandoned in dust and rust forced state police chief Loknath Behera to direct the district heads to auction them. However, the legal hurdles stop them from carrying out the exercise. The regional transport department, which does not have space of its own, is forced to park the vehicles at the police stations after seizing them during inspection drives.
As per the details available with the state police, nearly 40,000 vehicles confiscated or recovered are rusting in the open spaces at various stations for several years and, of them, around 14,000 are unclaimed.
Malappuram district (10,000) has the most unclaimed vehicles and Wayanad (500) the least.When the situation turned worse, the DGP ordered to avoid dumping of seized vehicles on the police station premises or by the roadside. He also instructed the police chiefs to submit a detailed data categorising the vehicles.
Sources in the police department said most vehicles were stolen or seized in connection with cases pertaining to sand mining and narcotic substances. There are also those involved in accidents. Majority of seized vehicles are lorries, jeeps, cars and two-wheelers. Station House Officers (SHO) are designated to keep a record of them and dispose of through auction.
According to an SHO at a police station in Thiruvananthapuram district, the owners show reluctance to take the vehicles despite reminding them.The officers of each police station is responsible for the seized vehicles’ care, but the owners say they get ruined and they could not sell or use it anymore. An SHO said, “Our station premises has been turned into a junkyard. Hundreds of vehicles have been lying idle here for years, but we can’t do anything on our own. In many cases, even after a court order, people don’t turn up to collect their vehicles. This happens mostly with vehicles involved in accidents, wherein people who have lost their kin don’t want to take them back. Still we keep trying.”
IG (Administration) P Vijayan told Express legal hurdles prevented the cops from disposing of the vehicles. “Generally, the confiscated vehicles belong to three-four categories. Those which were used for criminal activities could be disposed of only after winding up the case. So there are some legal formalities involved. The decision on the vehicles used for sand mining has to be made by the revenue and geology departments. The rest of the vehicles are regularly auctioned by the SHOs of respective police stations,” said Vijayan.