Road Ministry Did Not Issue Notice on Damage to Public Property

An image falsely claimed that Section 3 of ‘Prevention of Damage to Public Property (Roads) Act 1984’ had been amended.

(Photo: AP/ Altered by The Quint)

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CLAIM

An image of a notice dated 5 July allegedly issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) claims that an amendment has been made under Section 3 of ‘Prevention of damage to Public Property (Roads) Act 1984.’

The Quint received a query about the claims made in the image via our Whatsapp helpline.

As per the notice, if a truck is found carrying load above the permeable limit, the truck driver will not only be imprisoned for at least six months but his driving licence will also get cancelled for three years. Further, it alleges that an FIR will be filed against the truck owner and heavy penalty will be levied on consignor, consignee and owner.

(Photo Courtesy: Whatsapp screenshot)

TRUE OR FALSE?

The claims made in the image are false. Firstly, the Act is not called ‘Prevention of Damage to Public Property (Roads) Act 1984’ but Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act 1984. Secondly, the notification G S R 1081 (E) through which the amendment was allegedly made, was issued on 2 November 2018.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

While it’s true that Section 3 of the ‘Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act 1984’ talks about punishment and fine being levied if somebody damages public property, the punishment mentioned in the viral post is completely different as compared to the original act.

More so, the post which is being circulated has attributed the amendment to notification number G S R 1081(E).

However, the original notification which was issued on 2 November 2018, talks about production of documents in electronic form. The notification was issued for an amendment of Rule 139 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules. Then the government also issued procedural details for this amendment of the Rule 139.

The amendment in Rule 139 under notification number G S R 1081(E), mentioned that the required documents such as driving licence, insurance, registration certificate and pollution under check certificate, among others could be produced in electronic form. This was done so that it becomes convenient for the public.

Further, while tracking tweets on the the official account on MoRTH, we found that the Ministry had issued a clarification on Monday, 8 July, that the said notice is fake.

The New Indian Express also fell for the fake notice. The archived version of the story can be seen here.

The New Indian Express fell for the the fake notice.(Photo Courtesy: Website screenshot)

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