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4. The submission of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that the e-challans had been issued by respondent nos. 3 to 10 in the month of June, 2020 on the premise that the overloaded vehicles were plied on the public roads by the petitioners on different dates in the month of January, 2020. The basis of the said allegation is the data of weight/overweight provided by the toll plazas which had been established under the National Highways Authority Act, 1956.

The submission is that the statutory provisions regulating operations of the public vehicles namely U.P. Motor Vehicle Rules, 1998 have been framed in exercise of powers under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act" and "the Rules"). It is contended that the statutory enactments namely the Act and the Rules grant power on the Authority and prescribe procedure in the matter of regulation of overload vehicles on public roads which has to be strictly adhered to.

8. Learned standing counsel submits that with the increasing problems of overloading of vehicles and the resultant road accidents, in order to effectively control the situation, a directive dated 30.10.2015 was issued by the Transport Commissioner, U.P., Lucknow. A copy of the said order has been appended as Annexure C.A. '3' to the counter affidavit.

It was provided therein that the concerned Assistant Regional Transport Officer (Enforcement) will get the list of overloaded vehicles passed through weigh-in-motion machines installed in the toll plazas of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on daily basis through e-mail and necessary action shall be taken for issuance of challan as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and the Rules, in case of offending overloaded vehicles. It was also provided that as evidence, C.C.T.V. footage from the toll plaza shall be collected on weekly basis. This direction was to be implemented immediately.

The Apex Court has thus held that permitting the overloaded vehicles to ply on the public road after composition of the offence punishable under Section 194 would amount to fresh commission of offence in terms of Section 113(3) of the Act. The State ,thus, cannot permit carriage of the excess weight to ply on the public road after compounding.,

14. In the light of the above in the facts of the present case, it may be noted that vide circular dated 30th October, 2015, a mechanism had been evolved to curb the menace of overloaded vehicles plying on the public roads which have resulted in significant damage to the road surface, cause pollution through auto-emissions and are safety hazards not only for themselves but also for other road users.

As there is no challenge to the circular dated 30.10.2015 (which has been filed alongwith the counter affidavit), the plea of the petitioners that retrospective effect has been given to the office order dated 22.5.2020 by the U.P. Transport Commissioner is liable to be rejected.

16. As regards, the jurisdiction of the Regional Transport Authorities (Enforcement) to issue e-challan on the basis of the data of overloaded vehicles provided by the toll plazas, we may note that the Regional Transport Officer (Enforcement) has been empowered to intercept the plying of overloaded vehicles in contravention of sub-section (3). The weighing devices and the installation or use of such devices for the purpose of Section 113 has been described in Rule 181 of clause (ii). Three kind of devices have been recognized in sub-rule (1) of Rule 181 which include a portable wheel-weigher of any kind approved by the State Government. The power of the State Government to control road transport has been given in Section 67 of the Act, wherein it can issue directions, from time to time, both to the State Transport Authority and the Regional Transport Authority by issuing notification in the Official Gazette. Under Section 68 of the Act, a State Transport Authority is constituted by the State Government to exercise and discharge the powers and functions specified in sub-section (3) of the said section. The power of the State Transport Authority described in sub-section (3) of Section 68 reads as under:-