Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has expressed serious displeasure over the failure of the authorities concerned to take action on the information received regarding illegal registration of vehicles and tampering of records in Punjab.
A bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha and Justice Arun Palli said the court was informed that the authorities had information about the illegal registration of 1,300 vehicles, which were plying not only in Punjab but also in other parts of the country, but no action was taken.
“It is also learnt that neither any registration has been cancelled nor any action has been taken against the dealers or other persons involved in the matter, about whom a committee had information about illegal registration and tampering of records etc,” the bench said. Therefore, we express our serious displeasure in this matter.
In its order, the bench noted that petitioner Simranjit Singh had filed a petition before the court stating several documents which revealed the ongoing discrepancies in the registration of vehicles and the possibility of use of these vehicles for any criminal incident. Despite this, the state has not filed its reply.
The bench also took note of the information furnished by the public prosecutor that the Transport Commissioner of Punjab had constituted a committee comprising four officials of the transport department to look into the matter. “It has been almost two years, but despite that nothing has been brought on record.”
However, it has come to light before the court that the committee called the petitioner a few days before the hearing of this petition to get the necessary information available with it so that any further action can be taken on its behalf. “The manner in which the issue has been dealt with by the authorities is insensitive. The court is not satisfied with the steps taken by the state government in the matter.”