Despite transport department rebuke, taxi drivers violate uniform rule

PANAJI: When the transport department cracks the whip on taxi drivers not wearing the prescribed uniform while on duty, a plethora of violations come to the fore. At the Panaji regional transport office (RTO) alone, there are about 10 to 15 such cases a month wherein taxi drivers are caught in casual clothes. June saw 10 such cases in Panaji.
This dress code violation invites a penalty of Rs 100.In some cases, where there are repeat offenders, the violating driver’s licence is impounded and a memo is issued to the taxi operator to produce the vehicle documents. This further opens a Pandora’s box of violations, officers said. When taxi drivers produce the documents, transport officials learn that they have been flouting various other norms like vehicle fitness, PUC certificate, permit and insurance.
“The is a general punishment under Section 177 of the Motor Vehicle Act, there’s no penal action for the same. The state transport authority can impose some penalty on the vehicle when the taxi’s permit comes to us for renewal. In lieu of all the violations committed, we can even suspend the permit. But so far it has not been a practice,” a transport official said.
He added that tourist taxi drivers are to wear an all-white uniform while the yellow and black (Y and B) ones are to wear a full khaki uniform. However, many have been caught wearing a casual T-shirt and sometimes even shorts while driving.
A general check of each taxi’s documents must be done, said the official.
Though the dress code violation is seen as a minor offence, officials insist that it must be taken seriously to instil discipline among drivers.
“This violation is most commonly seen among tourist taxi drivers rather than the Y and B taxi drivers. But the drivers are well networked and inform their peers if there is any police check going on. They wear their uniform in the car itself and hoodwink the police,” an RTO official said.