Highway standoff still at crash-point
By Shanika Udawatte
After a one-day token strike which caused chaos on city streets, private bus operators are still on a crash course with the police and the National Transport Commission.
The Lanka Private Bus Owners Association chairman Gemunu Wijeratne said they would appeal against the imposition of fines for traffic offences under the National Transport Commission (NTC) Act.
He said that at tomorrow’s meeting with Transport Minister Tilak Marapana theye would demand that the bus crew should not be fined for traffic offences under the NTC Act.
Mr Wijeratne said clause 40 of the NTC Act specified the offences for which fines could be imposed and traffic offences did not fall under this category. He said that offences such as not having route permits and obstructing procedural checks by NTC officials could be fined under this Act.
"It is very unfair that the bus operators are fined for traffic offences under the NTC Act when there is a separate Motor Traffic Act under which all other drivers are charged for traffic offences. In this manner we have to pay thousands of rupees for the same offences while other drivers have to pay only a few hundred rupees," Mr. Wijeratne said.
He said the NTC which had issued about 3,000 route-permits for inter-provincial buses, should not be allowed to take action against the crew of more than 14,500 buses, as route permits for these buses were issued by the provincial councils.
City Traffic DIG Daya Jayasundara said the NTC Chairman had officially requested police help in detecting violators of the NTC Act.
He said that under the NTC Act, no spot fines were imposed and all offences were referred to a court of law, thus giving bus owners an opportunity to appeal if they were displeased with the court ruling.
He said the police would implement the NTC Act.
NTC Chairman A.B. Talagune, echoing a similar view, accused the LPBOA of trying to cover up its faults by saying that it was being treated in an unjust manner when actually its members were at fault.
However another NTC official said that a fine of up to Rs. 10,000 or an imprisonment of up to ten years could be given to those who violate the NTC Act. He states that Mr. Wijeratne was correct in saying that the traffic offences were not a violation of the NTC Act.
The official added that only the MTA could be used to fine bus drivers for traffic offences and that the police had been informed about this fact.
“We have even told them to seek the advice of the Attorney General's Department to find out how fair it is to impose very large fines on bus drivers for the same traffic offences that other drivers can get away with by paying only a minor fraction of what the bus drivers have to pay" he said.
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