Imagine a situation wherein you are relocating to a new city and wish to take your two wheeler along with you for comfort. But since the new city is miles away, you cannot ride your vehicle all the way. Private carriers charge hefty sums for vehicle transport. That leaves you with something usually termed as the poor man’s choice – The railways. The rates for vehicle transport are much lesser than that offered by private carriers. Thus it should seem an obvious choice for you, right? If you answered yes, read on and see if you still have the same opinion once you reach the end of this article.

Of late, several incidents of mishandling of vehicles, broken parts, stolen components etc. have emerged with regard to transportation of vehicles via rail. While the railway officials continue to indemnify themselves from the losses incurred by the customer by stating that it has clearly been mentioned that they are not responsible for damage, one wonders what happened to the laws of the land, more specifically the Consumer Protection Act, which extends beyond the scope of two-party agreements when it comes to deficiency of service. Yet, even if it is invoked, the procedure is not easy and not many people would want to undergo the hassle.

Adding to the list of problems is the recent shocker: That of railway officials illegally auctioning off vehicles that are unclaimed by their owners. The Railway parcel department has created an easy procedure for themselves, out of which some of the officials are observed to be reaping undue benefits.

The procedure is as follows:

As per the current procedure, the railway authorities expect the customer to collect the transported vehicle by the day of arrival at the station. If not, they levy a fee of Rs. 288/- per day for vehicles parked on the platforms. After a period of three days, if the vehicle is unclaimed, they shift the vehicle to the Lost Parcel Office (LPO) where it is stored for a period of 15 days. By then, the total fine amounts to Rs. 5184/-.

However, it is almost always impossible for a customer to collect the vehicle on arrival mostly due to a fault not their own. In order to collect the vehicle, a carbon copy of the dispatch slip obtained from the point of departure has to be produced at the point of arrival. This dispatch slip often reaches the customer as late a month at times, by which the fine would have crossed Rs. 10,000/-. This results in many owners abandoning their vehicles as they are unable to pay such hefty amounts.

If the customer does not turn up within a month (at times even within fifteen days) the authorities request the commercial officer for permission to auction the vehicle. Once this has been obtained, the vehicle is put up for auction which takes place internally, with just one notice being put up on the railway notice board for the public passing by to see. This sort of auctioning is illegal on two counts. Firstly, any auction being made of private property has to be notified in the newspapers as per the law. Secondly, the vehicles which are auctioned are not being legally transferred to the new owner, which goes against the provisions of the Indian Motor Vehicle Act, which states that the registration certificate of any vehicle being sold to a second/third/subsequent owner should be immediately transferred to the new owner after submission and verification of the credentials. But in this case, after the auction the authorities are issuing only a slip as a proof of purchase, which according to the RTO officials have no value leaving the new owner without a mandatory proof of ownership.

This raises another serious concern of vehicles being misused for illegal activities. And since the owner details have not been updated, the previous owner may be charged with offences he has never committed.

Another irregularity that has been noted is that since the auction details are not being widely publicized, often the railway staff have been found obtaining these vehicles for themselves at very cheap prices. The only positive outcome of this is that the police and transport department are wary of the same, and have stated that anyone found in possession of such vehicles without proof of ownership is likely to be penalized and the vehicle being impounded.

However, all these occurrences are sure to at least now make you think twice before transporting your vehicle. So the next time you intend to transport your vehicles, stay alert stay safe!