[sgiitk]

@guna; Did you get it back? It is crazy the way our schweinen operate some times.

[charanreddy]

The Police, Govt. , RTO can be corrupt, be lazy, be run by touts and it is a offence for us to get out of our homes to do regular work like grocery shopping and park our car !!

The Govt. that sets rules for commuters also needs to set rules for itself interms of parking spaces provided.

Govt. has no right to fine citizens when it cannot provide necessary infrastructure after collecting humongous road tax.

It is wrong to correct the citizen end of the equation with out correcting the Govt.'s end.

@ BHPians who are advocating we need to first fall in line, In my humble opinion its a slippery slope. As we start falling in line, to replenish their drying bribe incomes, even more draconian laws will be formed. No offence, just my thoughts.

[drmohitg]

Honestly its a good practice. Anybody who has to go through the hassle of claiming back the DL from the RTO will not commit the same offence again in all likelihood.

What I find funny is our inherent nature of defending our acts and criticizing others. Multiple posts in this thread documenting similar offences committed by themselves have few things in common under the description:
1. Very less traffic on the road.
2. The errand was for a very less duration of time.
3. No other motorist or resident got inconvenienced for the same.

It is funny how we try to sugarcoat our offence. An offence is an offence. And I welcome this move by the BTP.

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

It is funny how we try to sugarcoat our offence. An offence is an offence.

I agree with this bit. This is the logic many of the people in Bangalore use when they are breaking rules.

• Coming on the wrong side? If there is less traffic on that side, I am not hindering anyone
• Standing on the zebra crossing? There are no pedestrians crossing.
• Jumping signal? There was no traffic coming from the other side.

So yes, an offence is an offence indeed.

Such people do indeed need to be punished.

But,

Originally Posted by drmohitg

And I welcome this move by the BTP.

I don't agree with this bit. Law should be equal to all. If his DL has been sent for suspension, all the others who have committed a parking offense should have their DLs sent for suspension too. Due to whims of one particular cop, Guna is suffering.

Punish all to the same extent, then I shall welcome this move. Else, it is plain unfair that the 100 odd vehicles that park near Basavanagudi Club under a No Parking Sign, the thousands across the city that park on the footpath pay Rs. 100 and get away with things while Guna has to end up running from pillar to post getting his DL back.

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by charanreddy

The Police, Govt. , RTO can be corrupt, be lazy, be run by touts and it is a offence for us to get out of our homes to do regular work like grocery shopping and park our car !!

The Govt. that sets rules for commuters also needs to set rules for itself interms of parking spaces provided.

Govt. has no right to fine citizens when it cannot provide necessary infrastructure after collecting humongous road tax.

It is wrong to correct the citizen end of the equation with out correcting the Govt.'s end.

@ BHPians who are advocating we need to first fall in line, In my humble opinion its a slippery slope. As we start falling in line, to replenish their drying bribe incomes, even more draconian laws will be formed. No offence, just my thoughts.

So we should not obey the laws? It is not an offence to go shopping; all you have to do is park in a proper place and pay the fee even if it means walking a little.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Have you complained on BTP wall? I am checking everyday and not able to see the post.

I did post on the FB page. This is the link: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...notif&refid=48

Originally Posted by akj123

Hi Guna - could you update on how this issue was handled - have you got your DL back?

No I had to go out of station. Also I believe it takes few days . I am told I can drive with the notice and the photocopy of the DL as it has only been recommended for suspension for now.

[sdp1975]

Note that :

1) The RTO must provide you an opportunity to be heard as per 19(1) of the MV Act. You can elaborate on the valid points made by SS-Traveller that the suspension/cancellation is not legal.

2) If the RTO decision does not go in your favor, you can appeal against the decision of the RTO as provided in section 19(3) of the MV Act within 30 days.
State governments are required to prescribe an appellate authority , and the rules in KA state that the Jt. Commisioner or the Deputy Commisioner of the jurisdiction can be appealed to.
See section (4) in Chapter II of http://rto.kar.nic.in/Revised%20M.V....0Corrected.pdf.

I would say fight it out, don't give in to arbitrariness of the cops.

Their arbitrariness won't stop unless they see people willing to fight it out.

[manjubp]

Originally Posted by funkykar

Next time dont take it for granted and look for places marked for Parking. Only a handful have to go through this DL seizure as BTP cannot do it for every offender due to limited wheel locks they would have and a Tiger can tow 1 vehicle every 30-40 min. For the rest of them they would put the parking fine sticker.

Agree with this observation. Certainly the BTP can't go and suspend all DLs. But the fear of suspension can result in some good behavior. Towing is such a painful experience for both car owner and also the police department. There are many complaints on BTP for damages caused during towing of a car. They would like to avoid those situations.

While many of us compare the our police system with western police system and would like to see the same here, forget the heavy handling of criminals. Just go through how many people got shot by the police force? So it is not fair to compare the between police systems.

[naikameya]

Originally Posted by Guna

Another thing I noticed. In the blackberry receipt, they have listed (in addition to wrong parking) lane indiscipline as one of the offence. I noticed it only later.

Excuse me if I do not get this. But I am unable to fathom how can some one not follow lane discipline and abandon a vehicle at the same time.

If I understand it correctly this itself should suffice you to argue that the police officer was unjust and was trying to harass you.

But I am not sure if logic & common sense prevail within such dept.

awaiting your updates.

[akj123]

Originally Posted by Guna

No I had to go out of station. Also I believe it takes few days . I am told I can drive with the notice and the photocopy of the DL as it has only been recommended for suspension for now.

Ok, good to know you can drive. Please do update the thread with your experience.

Punishment has to be in proportion to the offense, taking away DL for no-parking is overkill. Hope BTP does the basics first, like driving wrong side, drunk driving etc.

[ant_vas]

Its surprising to see people who are not staying in bangalore commenting about the BTP and comparing them to outfits like taliban.

My dear sir, please come and stay in bangalore and experience the traffic indiscipline your self. You will realize that with inadequate infrastructure and limited manpower the bangalore traffic police force is indeed doing a better job. Almost all traffic offenses are recorded in the blackberry and receipt will be issued on the spot. They even send notices to your home thru post which you can clear at a bangalore one center/website as well.

Coming to this case of guna, the parking offense is a second one as per him, he also had another offense of changing lanes or something like that. I hope he gets the DL back and this incident will be a deterrent not just for him but for others including me!

And if my memory serves me correctly back in 2004 or 2005 i was caught by a traffic constable and inspector duo twice for coming in opposite direction of traffic. This was at Udupi garden signal and i was coming to the junction from 16th main side. Back then the road divider was small and a lot of bikers would take the right lane when the signal turned green. For my luck twice as i reached the junction, the light would turn red and i would have to stop as traffic from other lane would start moving. i paid 100 for first time and 300 for the second time. and was told by the inspector that 3rd strike and my license would be sent for cancellation. as i have the license issued from madhya pradesh, i up on asking about that he said we will send it to MP RTO for cancellation! So if the rule existed back then, am not surprised that they want to use it more stringently these days.

More recently the BTP have got the rules tweaked with such stricter measures to deter the aam junta from violating the traffic rules. Why even BTP folks have gone in plain cloths and had hundreds of autorickshaw's taken to task. They were fined and ceased from morning 6 to night 10, Not once but twice. If the BTP were really interested in filling their own pockets i don't think such drives would take place.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

It is funny how we try to sugarcoat our offence. An offence is an offence. And I welcome this move by the BTP.

We are not disputing the violation. We are disputing the punishment.

I believe that punishment should match the crime. There are countries where mere blasphemy attracts death sentence. We are not one of those countries, and shouldn't even start going in that direction.

It is beyond dispute that a moving violation is more serious than non-moving violation. If DL is cancelled for a non-moving violation, what are they going to do for moving violation?

Put yourself in the shoes of the violator. Say you were caught doing 51kmph in 50kmph zone. Should they merely cancel your DL, or impound the car along with cancellation of DL?

[BeantownThinker]

I am of the belief that from time to time examples need to be made in order to deter people from violating the rules.

Many here are of the opinion that the punishment does not fit the crime for a first time offence. How many of us can honestly say, hand on heart, that this was the first offence? This was probably the first offence of the person for which he was caught! What of all the times when rules were violated and the offender was not caught? Why is there no outrage from the offender for that?

BTP knows that it is pain to get anything done at the RTO offices most of the times and making you undergo that pain for a violation is their idea of punishing the offenders.

Some have called this action draconian. All I can say is that making you spend time and money is not draconian. Being locked up overnight at the station IS draconian, which the cops have NOT done.

Over 11,000 people have viewed this thread and I am sure many would think twice before parking in a "No Parking" zone.

Kudos to BTP for having taken this step.

[roy_libran]

Come now Gentlemen, let's not split into two camps.

- We all are in agreement that our fellow member committed a Deliberate Offense.
- We all, including the OP, are in agreement that some punishment is deserving in this case.
- We have some dissimilar views on whether or not, the punishment is commensurate with the crime.
- Some members have pointed out the Legal Loop-holes that CAN and MUST be exploited in presenting the case to the judge.
- The concerned departments may have been operating within a legal gray area, when confiscating the license and that can always be challenged in court.
- We all will also agree, that this example, will serve to Educate and Motivate a lot of other intelligent and enlightened folks, to desist from committing offenses deliberately, and in that respect, the purpose of the punishment has been well served.
- It's also equally important, that we all support the OP, in getting out of this trouble, and get on with his life normally.

I repeat, let's not squabble!

[veyron_head]

I empathize with the thread starter's plight. I too find the punishment overboard.

But on another note, weekday or weekend, day or night, i always park the car in the paid parking in Jayanagar, above the RTO/bus stand. Gives you peace of the mind. My wife always asks me why I pay for parking when so many park on the road. Need to show her this thread now!