Auto-owner loses permit for e-meter tampering

MUMBAI: In a first, the permit of an autorickshaw owner was cancelled permanently and a meter dealer arrested in an e-meter tampering case. The driver of the auto was arrested by the Jogeshwari police.
RTO officials said this will indeed serve as a deterrent to errant drivers in the suburbs. On Wednesday evening, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA), headed by state transport secretary Shailesh Sharma, cleared the decks for the cancellation of permit of Dilip Nimunkar (autorickshaw number MH-02-TA 7797) after the vehicle was found with a tampered meter in Jogeshwari on July 6.
An FIR was registered by the Jogeshwari police which arrested the driver, Arshad Ansari, and subsequently the meter dealer, sources said.
The meter dealer’s arrest was kept under wraps by some transport officials. It was revealed by an officer to TOI only on Wednesday. Sources said the RTO and the police may grill representatives of the meter manufacturer in the case.
An official from the transport commissioner’s office said, “This time, we decided to crack the whip. We imposed a hefty fine, lodged a police complaint and sent a proposal to the MMRTA for cancellation of the auto owner’s permit.”
Several RTO officials welcomed the move. “Cancellation of permit is the maximum punishment for an auto owner/driver.” When contacted, state transport commissioner V N More said the department had conducted a series of checks on e-meters fitted autos in the eastern and western suburbs in June-July. “We got a couple of cases of e-meter tampering, but these numbers are negligible as compared to the total number of autos fitted with the new meters,” he said. The RTOs at Wadala and Andheri have so far fitted e-meters in more than 15,000 autos in the suburbs.
In another case of e-meter tampering, More’s special squad laid a trap and caught a meter mechanic allegedly trying to rig en e-meter in Ghatkopar. An FIR was registered and the mechanic remanded in police custody. “We have been issued directives to only lodge police complaints in meter tampering cases,” said an assistant RTO.