The Hindu             21.10.2013

Seized, unclaimed vehicles posing a problem for police, BBMP

Seized, unclaimed, stolen and disputed vehicles in
possession of city police stations have become a burden not just on the
Police Department but also on the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike
(BBMP) as they are being parked in playgrounds, parks.

In
fact, the tussle between the two departments has reached a boiling
point and the BBMP is now bringing the problem to the notice of the
State’s Home Ministry.

Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana told
The Hindu
on Sunday that the palike will write to Home Minister K.J. George. “I
inspected D.J. Halli and was surprised to see nearly 1,000 such vehicles
parked on the main road. The same is the case near K.R. Market,
Chamarajapet, and other areas. Footpaths, parks and even playgrounds are
bearing the brunt of this problem. For instance, Bannappa Park has
become a permanent parking place for unclaimed and seized vehicles. We
have told the Police Department several times to sell the vehicles if
they remain unclaimed for a year,” he said.

Hundreds
of such vehicles are gathering dust even outside police stations. Kamal
Panth, Additional Commissioner (Law and Order), said that the problem of
parking seized vehicles is affecting the work environment at police
stations as many of them are being parked on the station premises. “For
example, though the Madiwala police station has a building, outside it
hundreds of these vehicles are parked,” he added.

Mr. Panth said it had become a “serious concern” for the police too.

“We
cannot just sell the vehicles as we require the court’s permission to
do so. Some of the vehicles were used by those who committed crimes such
as murder and rape, and some were involved in accidents and some seized
vehicles were handed over to the police by the Regional Transport
Office (RTO), Commercial Tax Department, and Mines and Geology
Department,” he explained.

In case of vehicles that
were involved in accidents, badly damaged ones are not claimed by the
owners as they get reimbursed for the damage by the insurance company,
and the insurance company itself finds it useless to take damaged
vehicles.

In cases of theft, the number plates of vehicles would have been changed and the owners are often untraceable, he added.

As a last resort, police stations across the city auction these vehicles.

The buyers are those actually looking for second-hand vehicles or scrap/spare part dealers.

One
such public auction will be held at the Cubbon Park police station on
Monday at 3.30 p.m. A personnel from the station said 20 vehicles would
be auctioned, and last such auction was held a year ago. “But there is
no guarantee that all of them will be sold,” he added.

Mr.
Panth explained that the RTO fixes a minimum price for each of the
vehicles. Those vehicles that fail to attract the minimum price remain
with the department.