Buses registered outside of T.N. and used as stage carriers to be impounded, warns State Transport Commissionerate

The T.N. State Transport and Road Safety Commissionerate has directed transport officials to impound any vehicles including omni buses that are registered outside the State and are being operated as unauthorised stage carriers. The move comes in the wake of the department extending the deadline several times to re-register vehicles that are registered outside the State, with local Regional Transport Offices (RTOs). 

The Tamil Nadu State Transport and Road Safety Commissionerate has directed transport officials to impound any vehicles including omni buses that are registered outside the State and are being operated as unauthorised stage carriers. The move comes in the wake of the department extending the deadline several times to re-register vehicles that are registered outside the State, with local Regional Transport Offices (RTOs). 

A senior official of the State Transport and Road Safety Authority said the operation of 800 omni buses registered out of the State was resulting in a huge revenue loss estimated at more than ₹32 crore per year to the State government. Despite the Commissioner having held several round of talks with omni bus owners and the deadline given to them ending on June 18, over 800 omni buses that had All India Permits but that were registered in states like Nagaland were being operated in T.N. These vehicles were also creating uneven competition for State Transport Corporations (STCs) because of the low prices they charge. 

RTOs and Motor Vehicle Inspectors (MVIs) will soon start impounding these vehicles and in the case passengers are travelling in these vehicles, alternative arrangements would be made to accommodate them in other buses, officials said.