The High Court yesterday ordered the government to stop allowing unfit motor vehicles to ply on the road across the country and also to seize around 19 lakh fake driving licences.
In a ruling, the High Court bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul-Haque and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman also asked the government to find out and take legal action against those in possession of fake licences.
The chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) was asked to submit a report to the court within 30 days.
Besides, the court asked the authorities concerned to explain in four weeks the actions taken so far against unfit transports.
The communication secretary, home secretary, inspector general of police and BRTA chairman were made respondents to the ruling and were asked to explain what they had done so far as they were already aware that a large number of vehicles were plying on the road without the drivers having valid driving licences and causing accidents.
The High Court came up with the orders and the ruling following an August 2 newspaper report titled “Road accident: 90 lakh fake drivers rule the highway”.
The report said as many as 191 people were killed in 154 road accidents in the country in a single week from July 15 to 21 as 19 lakh fake drivers are ruling the highways recklessly.
It said 60% of the accidents take place because of faults of drivers who even include adolescents. Some 1.98 lakh driving licences have allegedly been issued without examination and renewal of the licences are also being allowed in the same way.
According to the report, the government estimate reveals that eight people are being killed on an average in road accidents every day in the country while the World Bank and the World Health Organisation say the death toll is 30 and 48 respectively.
BRTA statistics prepared in June showed that 18.77 lakh drivers in the country do not have valid licences.
A driver has to be 20 years old to run a bus or a truck on highway. But adolescents aged 12 to 16 also run heavy vehicles on highway with lessons taken from senior drivers, popularly known as ostads, on how to take the wheel. This is a key reason for the large number of road crashes in the country.
The High Court last year banned local human hauliers from operating on southwestern highways in 10 districts after such vehicles were involved in a large number of road fatalities.
The government took stern measures to implement the order but faced protests from transport owners and workers.
The government has lately banned CNG-run autorickshaws on highways in compliance with the High Court order but the move sparked strong protests among drivers.
