The Transport Department of Maharashtra has allowed an auto-rickshaw union to certify recalibrated e-meters fitted in taxis and auto rickshaws plying in the Mumbai region.
The decision has not gone down well with consumer activists and transport experts who said it would lead to a conflict of interest.
Incidentally, the transport department is headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde who himself used to drive an auto rickshaw before he entered politics.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA) earlier this month approved the application of the Mumbai Rickshawmen's Union for conducting bench tests of electronic fare meters in taxis and auto-rickshaws, said officials of the Regional Transport Office (RTO).
The auto-rickshaw union is an interested party, and therefore there will definitely be a conflict of interest. The certification should be always done by an independent body like VJTI (Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, a government-run engineering college in Mumbai)," said A V Shenoy, a transport activist.
The Andheri RTO, in its remarks on the application, said that as many as 56,076 auto rickshaws and 6,420 taxis are registered with it, but there is no organization which has the permission to conduct meter tests under its jurisdiction which stretches from Bandra to Jogeshwari.