Thiruvananthapuram: The roads in Kerala are literally drawing blood and claiming many lives. Efforts to rein in reckless drivers have yielded limited results as those caught for grave traffic violations escape stringent action after taking legal recourse.

Nine people, including five students were killed and over 40 were injured after a private bus hit a state-run KSRTC bus from behind in Kerala's Palakkad district on Thursday.

The Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) often seeks cancellation of fitness certificates and permits of vehicles involved in major offences. Last year alone it took action against 1,768 buses including several caught for violations such as over-speeding and non-payment of taxes. However, the vehicle owners approached the High Court and earned favourable verdicts.

The court earlier issued an order stating that the fitness certificate should be reinstated upon the owners producing the recommendation of recognized agencies to this effect. It observed that the department can’t deny the certificate just because the violators failed to remit tax and other things.

Though the Centre brought in a regulation in 2019, providing for banning of vehicles booked for over-speeding, the bus owners in the state moved the High Court and obtained a verdict against preventing them from conducting services. The government, on its part, never bothered to challenge the court orders.

The MVD officials point out that they can’t take effective action against such violators without being able to cancel their fitness certificates and permits.

Similarly, the law provides that a fitness certificate should not be provided for modified vehicles. However, many first obtain the certificate and then modify their vehicles to escape the legal tangle.

Non-functional cameras

Out of the 240 cameras installed across the state by the MVD to detect traffic violations, only 70 are functional. In all 170 of them are equipped with sensors to detect over-speeding, but nearly 100 are not working. As many as 34 cameras became inoperative in the last two months alone.