The High Court Division on Tuesday asked owners of 4.79 lakh unfit vehicles running across the country to get fitness certificates for the vehicles from the Bangladesh Road Transports Authority in two months.
The bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and KM Hafizul Alam also asked the road transport authority and the inspector general of police to not allow running the unfit vehicles unless they collect fitness certificates by the period.
The bench asked the authority and the police chief to submit compliance reports during the next hearing on October 15.
The bench also said that on October 15 it would pass further order banning all fitness defaulter vehicles from roads and highways in the interest of the people.
The authority in a report informed the court that it had been incurring loss of huge revenue as the 4,79,320 unfit vehicles had not renewed their fitness for years, many of them for over 10 years.
The authority opposed banning the operation of the unfit vehicles on the pretext that it would incur a loss of revenue.
It said that 33,71,899 drivers had licence while there were 40,18,767 registered vehicles across the country.
The BRTA said that the licence-holders included 11,66,665 motorcyclists, 73,726 three-wheeler drivers, 18,57,846 light motor vehicle drivers, 93,892 medium motor vehicle drivers, 1,78,719 heavy motor vehicle drivers and 1,044 other vehicle drivers.
The road transport authority informed the court that a vehicle owner needed to fulfil its 59 criteria to get the fitness certificate for the vehicle but it usually examined only 32 criteria which were essential to check road accidents.
The court rebuked the authority and the police for allowing the unfit vehicles on roads years after years.
The court said that unfit vehicles were mainly responsible for road accidents and causing traffic congestion.
Official records show that the number of road accidents increased in 2018 to 2,609, killing 2,635 people, from 2,562 accidents, killing 2,513 people, in 2017.
The road transport and bridges ministry recently further extended for another six months the deadline for issuing driving licences under the relaxed rules, increasing the risks, according to experts, of road traffic accidents across the country.
