Samruddhi Expressway accident: RTO issued bus fitness certificate 9 months after testing it for roadworthiness

The private bus that recently met with an accident on Maharashtra’s Samruddhi Expressway in which 25 passengers were charred to death, received the fitness certificate almost nine months after passing the roadworthiness test, official records show. 

Activists and former regional transport office (RTO) staffers have termed the inordinate delay between the two processes an administrative lapse, saying it leaves scope for malpractices. Maharashtra has nearly 67,000 registered contract carriage buses, as per officials.

Besides demanding strict action against those behind this delay in this particular case, they have also stressed the need for taking concrete steps to improve the system. A fitness certificate is mandatory for all commercial vehicles.

The private sleeper coach bus with registration number MH29 BE 1819 rammed into a pole on the Mumbai-Nagpur high-speed carriageway in Buldhana district on July 1 before hitting a divider and bursting into flames. While 25 passengers were charred to death, eight others, including the driver and his assistant, survived.

As per Amravati RTO’s primary report filed on the day of the accident, the fitness certificate of the bus, registered at Yavatmal RTO in January 2020, was valid up to March 10, 2024. The commercial vehicle’s records, however, throw up a tale of unexplained procedural delay.

According to RTO officials, its fitness certificate was approved on November 29, 2022, nearly 9 months after it was tested for roadworthiness on March 10, 2022. An RTO official said that Motor Vehicle Inspector Sachin Nikam made an entry (filling details on the national vehicle registry Vahan) on November 19 and verified it the same day. He approved the fitness certificate of the vehicle on November 29, 2022.

Records show both challans were promptly settled, which according to activists, raises more questions. If the bus fitness certificate was valid, why did RTOs issue challans to it twice and why would the owner pay such a hefty fine, asked VK Duggal, a director of NGO 3A Road Safety Foundation. Duggal suspects the bus might have been granted fitness without the mandatory testing. As per a directive of the Bombay High Court, videography is mandatory while testing a commercial vehicle for the renewal of the fitness certificate.