Officials directed to monitor omni bus tariff

Following the initiation of Suo Moto case against the tariff rates fixed by the omni bus operators on their own for Deepavali, the Joint Commissioner of Transport Department appeared at the court. Judges asked JC on what basis the tariff was fixed by the omni bus operators for which the JC replied that they had fixed the price of the tickets on their own. Then Judges asked the JC where there is any provision to fix the tariff under The Motor Vehicles Act for which JC replied no. But the Judges replied that according to Senior PP and Amicus Curiae under section 67 of The Motor Vehicle Act and under section 171 of The Motor Vehicle Rule, government can fix minimum and maximum tariff for contract garages such as omni buses. 

Immediately the counsel representing Madurai District Omni Bus Owners Association claimed that as government did not fix the tariff they had fixed a reasonable tariff and the tariff was based on last year’s tariff. Last year the non-AC bus tariff between Madurai and Chennai was Rs.800 and this year with an increase of 10 percent they had fixed this year’s tariff at Rs.880. They also claimed that they are also ready to accept the tariff rate of the government.

Then Judges claimed that only an expert team should assess that whether last year’s tariff was reasonable or not and then directed them to collect the same amount as that of last year. Judges in the order included all the District Collectors, City Police Commissioners, SPs, RTOs as respondents and issued strict directions to check whether excess rate is collected for the tickets.