HC seeks Delhi government's response on overloaded trucks

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the response of the city government on a PIL seeking direction to ban entry of overloaded commercial trucks in the capital.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath asked the Delhi government and the Delhi transport department to file their response on the plea by November 23.

The plea filed by one Dev Dutt Sharma said that in 2014 a total of 26,809 overloaded trucks met with accidents.

Advocate Sugriva Dubey, appearing for Sharma, told the court that when the trucks are overloaded they cause 300 percent more pollution in the air due to burning of diesel oil.

Dubey sought direction from the court to direct the government to not allow the entry of overloaded trucks and commercial vehicles at the entry points to the national capital.

Delhi government counsel told the bench that a similar matter has been pending before the National Green Tribunal here and the government has already taken steps.

"Work has been monitored by the NGT and steps already taken by the Delhi government. More than 5,000 trucks have been impounded since 2014," the Delhi government counsel told the bench.

The plea contended that overloading of trucks generates black money as the capacity of load of three trucks is managed by one truck and in that event revenue loss is caused and it endangers the life of the common man as the drivers driving the trucks capable of 9-tonne loads cannot control the vehicle due to overloading.

The PIL said: "If the transport capacity of a truck is 16 tonnes then the said trucks are found operating on the roads for more than 40 tonnes and the government deliberately do not take any steps to prevent the vehicles from violating the Motor Vehicle Act and even otherwise if the law is allowed to be violated then it will be endangering the other innocent persons on the roads."

It further stated that the roads of Delhi are constructed with the expectations that the life of the roads will be not less than 20 years but due to overloading of trucks the roads get badly damaged.

"Besides damaging of roads due to overloading of the trucks, the government suffers revenue loss also, as public money is spent on the construction of the roads but handful of businessmen insist that the transporters transport the overloaded trucks so that their money is saved," it added.