Hyderabad: Thousands of youths work as delivery boys have a better chance of keeping their jobs if they own a two-wheeler. Opinion is divided on whether it is illegal for one to use a private vehicle for commercial purposes or not.
A senior official from the transport department said that using a private vehicle to deliver goods and services from shops and restaurants is illegal. Joint commissioner of transport J. Pandurang Naik said it was a punishable offence under Section 66 of Motor Vehicles Act. “The use of privately registered two-wheelers for commercial purposes has been going on for sometime now but it is not taken as a serious offence. There have been drives in the past to stop the practice,” said an official.
However, an official of the transport department said the Central Motor Vehicles Act needed to be amended if the two-wheeler riders are to be penalised for carrying goods. He said the law only addressed the use of two-wheelers to carry paying passengers. “We penalise the vehicles when they are parked in no-parking areas, said senior traffic police officer Adimurthy. “There is no classification of offences for such vehicles.”
