At today’s Lok Adalat, 77 cases resolved and Rs 3,66,800 fine recovered: Dy RTO Vinod Jadhav

Deputy Regional Transport Officer (Dy RTO), Malegaon, Vinod Jadhav (left) interacts with an ‘aggrieved’ party that had come for a settlement at today’s Lok Adalat at Malegaon Court.

Deputy Regional Transport Officer (Dy RTO) Vinod Jadhav today said his office managed to resolve as many as 77 “pre-litigation” cases pending for over six months and was able to recover Rs 3,66,800 fine at today’s Lok Adalat held at Malegaon Court.

A team of around 25 officials including 10 Transport Inspectors and 12 clerical staff from Jadhav’s office was camping since morning at the Lok Adalat organised by Taluka Legal Aid Services Authority (TLASA) working under the aegis of District Legal Aid Services Authority.

The TLASA is headed by Judge S B Bahalkar, District Judge I and Additional Sessions Judge, Malegaon.

While giving details about the type of matters that were resolved at today’s Lok Adalat, Dy RTO Jadhav said cases like non-production of licence, fitness certificate, PUC certificate, insurance, RC Book, non-wearing of helmets and talking on mobile phone while driving etc were brought up for a pre-litigation resolution or an out-of-court settlement.

A person takes up his case with Dy RTO Vinod Jadhav. The staff from the Dy RTO’s office camped outside the court of Judge S R Nimse, 6th Joint Civil Judge Senior Division and Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate.  

“These cases were related to offences registered under such Sections as 3, 4, 129, 177 etc of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988,” Jadhav said.

The Voice of Malegaon spoke to a manager working with a renowned Public Sector Bank, which also put up a stall for resolution of grievances of their customers. Recently, the manager was fined Rs 2,000 for over-speeding and crossing the set speed limit of 90 km per hour over a particular stretch on the “National Highway 3”.

He said that he met the RTO officials at the Lok Adalat and tried to reach a reasonable settlement with them. “But all my attempts just went down the drain as the RTO officials were persistent in their demand for payment of Rs 2,000 fine. I had no other option but to just come back without having any resolution to my case,” the manager said while adding that this did not serve the purpose of the Lok Adalat.

When his attention was drawn to the manager’s grievance, Dy RTO Vinod Jadhav gave a clarification saying that only matters that are “compoundable” in nature are eligible to get resolution or an-out-of-court settlement at the Lok Adalat. “All these matters should be resolved at the pre-litigation stage,” he said.