Motor Vehicles Department to initiate legal action against Navy

KOCHI: The Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) is set to initiate legal action against the Navy bus that was booked by the enforcement squad for illegally carrying members attending a wedding ceremony. According to MVD officials though they had imposed a fine of Rs 43,000, the Navy had not remitted the amount.
“We had handed over the report to the Navy officials concerned who were in the bus and asked them to remit the fine at the earliest but they have not yet remitted the amount,” said a motor vehicles inspector.
Ernakulam regional transport officer T J Thomas said that so far they have not initiated any stringent action to recover the fine amount as Navy was a part of the defence services. “We will wait for a couple of days and if there is no response from them, further steps will be initiated,” Thomas said.
MVD officials said that if there was no response from the Southern Naval Command, they would send a legal notice. “This is a pre-requisite for confiscating the vehicle,’’ the official said.
When contacted, Navy sources confirmed that they had not remitted the amount. “We have started an inquiry into the incident. Matters like whether we have to pay the fine or not will be decided only after completion of the inquiry,” sources said.
The MVD had booked the Navy bus that was illegally carrying a marriage team in Aluva a couple of weeks ago during a routine check. The 50-seater bus with civilian passengers on board was used as a contract carriage without paying the stipulated tax.