HYDERABAD: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in a performance audit of enforcement activities of the state transport department for year 2016-17, has found that there was no effective coordination between the transport department and the traffic police to enforce the Motor Vehicle Acts.“To prevent overlapping of enforcement as well as for optimum deployment of resources, coordination between the two departments is essential. However, this is absent,” the report observed.
The audit report recalled that the enforcement of the Central and State Motor Vehicle Acts were carried out by two separate departments-- the transport department and the police department. Coordination between the two is essential in order to optimise the deployment of staff and prevent potential overlap in coverage. However, it observed that there was no mechanism between the two departments for sharing deployment plans. There were no guidelines that prescribed the extent of checks by the two departments.
According to the report, the ‘Citizen Friendly Services in Transport Department’ (CFST), a comprehensive web-enabled application used for issue of fitness and pollution under control certificates, permits, registration certificates, insurance certificates and driving licences provides data that could be potentially used for planning the activities of the enforcement wing on a risk-based approach. The enforcement wing did not have a risk-based deployment plan. The resources could be effectively utilised to address high-risk areas and to cover all aspects of enforcement.
“The government replied (October 2017) that award of negative points for offences was being implemented in the State. This mechanism had been devised in coordination with the police department. The reply however, did not address the mechanism between the two departments for sharing of deployment plans,” the CAG pointed out in its audit.The CAG, therefore, recommended that the mechanisms for coordination between the transport and police departments needed to be instituted at the stages of planning and implementation of enforcement activities.