MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council crossed the first hurdle when the civic body got the bank to release the three trucks lying inside a showroom for want of registration of the vehicles.
The civic body, however, faces a challenge of sorts to convince the Supreme Court and get the three vehicles on the roads, estimated to have cost the council around Rs 40 lakh.
In fact, the council will deliberate on the question of knocking on the doors of the Supreme Court to try and find out whether the three vehicles can be brought on the roads with the Apex Court’s nod. For, efforts made by the officials with the Transport Department and the company for registration of the three vehicles have all come a cropper with the government declining to register BS4 compliant vehicles post-April 2020.
“The municipality has crossed the first hurdle as the civic body has got possession of the three vehicles, which were in the custody of the company and the bank. Now, the council will have to decide on engaging the services of a Supreme Court lawyer to appear for the civic body as part of the efforts to get the vehicles registered with the Transport Department”, remarked a senior municipal official.
The official added: “Our legal opinion states that the Supreme Court had granted similar relief to many public utility agencies and registered the BS4 compliant vehicles even after April 2020. We hope that the Apex Court will hear our plea and direct the Transport Department to register the vehicles”.
All the three trucks are parked in the municipal garage at Old market as the vehicles cannot be brought on the roads since they are not BS6 compliant. In fact, these three vehicles were purchased by the civic body around a year and a half years ago before the BS6 compliant engine regulations came into force in April 2020.
Though the vehicles were purchased before the BS6 compliant regulations came into force in April 2020, the vehicles could not be registered with the Transport department on the plea that the department was no longer registering BS4 compliant vehicles post-April 2020.
Since then, the vehicles have been lying in the showroom, and the civic body has received their possession only recently after an application to the bank.
The issue had rocked the council meeting held on July 9 when the City Fathers took the administration to task over the purchase of the three trucks costing Rs 40 lakh by not taking possession of the vehicles, even as the civic body has made the payments way back in 2019.
In fact, former chairperson Ganashyam Shirodkar had made a forceful demand to recover the amount from the concerned officials for the huge loss. He had even threatened to lodge an FIR in the event the officials do not compensate the civic body.
