The Kerala Motor Vehicles Department has imposed a fine of Rs 5000 per vehicle in the fleet of Kallada Travels for breaking traffic rules and regulations. Each of the 46 inter-state buses has been found to have flouted speed limits, and have been fined, taking the total fine to Rs 2,30,000.
Speaking to TNM, transport commissioner Sudesh Kumar said, “The travels has not paid its fines since 2013. These fines are imposed for mostly breaking traffic rules due to over speeding. There are currently 2108 cases against Kallada Travels for breaking traffic rules.”
According to the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, any vehicle which is found to exceed the stipulated speed limit can be charged a fine of Rs 400. If the vehicle continues to over speed despite the fine, this amount can even go up to Rs 1000.
Last week, Kallada Travels had made headlines for the wrong reasons as the staff of the company had beat up three male passengers in Kochi. CCTV footage showed a group of men on bikes chasing and hitting passengers with beer bottles.
The victims were two college students and one middle-aged man, who were travelling from Haripad, Alappuzha on Kallada’s Kerala-Bangalore bus. The attack came to light when one of the other passengers posted a video on Facebook.
Speaking to TNM, M Sachin, one of the victims of the attack said the Kallada travels goons had chased him and his friend for nearly two and a half hours, and would have killed them if not for police intervention.
Following the incident, the Maradu police gave arrested over 7 of the staff members of the Travels. Kallada group owner Suresh Kallada’s statement too was recorded by the police on Thursday, after he initially refused to appear before the investigating officer citing health reasons.