Former MP JC Diwakar Reddy to be slapped Rs 100 crore fine for running banned buses

Hyderabad: In a major setback, former MP and private travel biggie JC Diwakar Reddy, is all set to be slapped with a Rs 100 crore fine on his entity by the AP transport authority.

Stating this, Joint Commissioner of AP road transport authority, Prasada Rao said that his travels operates as many as 68 BS 3 vehicles, which have been banned by the Supreme Court as they were polluting environment.

The Commissioner had told that only BS 4 vehicles would be sold from April 1, 2017. However, JC Travels procured these BS3 vehicles from Ashok Leyland as scrap and showed them as BS4 vehicles in order to get them registered in Nagaland, which is a gross violation of transport rules. Six vehicles were named under JC's close associate, Chavva Gopal Reddy, one in the name of Jatadhara Industries, owned by JC, four vehicles in the name of JC Prabhakar Reddy's wife, Uma Reddy, which all are in defiance of Supreme Court orders.

A complaint was filed by an individual, who alleged that the vehicles were in the banned list.

The authorities, on further investigation have found that there were at least 68 such BS3 vehicles running as BS4 vehicles. The joint commissioner also said that a fine of Rs 100 crore will be imposed on JC Travels and action would be initiated to ensure that there are no violations in the future.