Slap fine of ₹50 per hour for vehicles abandoned on roadside, Bombay high court tells police

The bench was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Tekchand Khanchandani, complaining of traffic snarls and encroachment of footpaths in Goregaon and Jogeshwari.

Get ready to pay a fine if you have abandoned your broken-down vehicle on the roadside, resulting in traffic congestion. The Bombay high court last week directed the government to issue instructions to police stations across the state to impose a penalty of ₹50 an hour, as stated under Section 201 of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, 1988, on owners if their disabled (broken-down) vehicles impede traffic in public places.

Government authorities are also empowered to levy and recover towing charges if such vehicles are removed by any governmental agency, such as the traffic police. (HT file)

The section also empowers government authorities to levy and recover towing charges if such vehicles are removed by any governmental agency, such as the traffic police.

A division bench of justices Abhay Oka and AS Gadkari was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Tekchand Khanchandani, complaining of traffic snarls and encroachment of footpaths in Goregaon and Jogeshwari.

As an example, he pointed out how on both sides of Link Road — starting at Hypercity Mall in Goregaon (West) and ending at Oshiwara Bridge, there were violations of a February 2009 traffic police notification, which imposed restrictions such as no parking, no halting, no U-turns and no right turns.

The bench issued the directive after Khanchandani pointed out that although Mumbai traffic police are removing abandoned vehicles from roads, a penalty, as stated under Section 201 of the MV Act, is not imposed on the owners of such vehicles.