Inspect vehicle fitness centres applied for ATS conversion: HC

Jaipur: Rajasthan High Court Tuesday directed the state transport department to ensure the inspection of vehicle fitness centres that applied for conversion into Automated Testing Stations (ATS) within 30 days and to expedite decisions on their pending applications. The order came in response to a petition filed by private fitness centre owners challenging the state govt's decision to close all 83 fitness centres operating in Rajasthan from April 1.

The closure followed directions from the ministry of road transport and highways, which asked states to conduct vehicle fitness tests only at automated centres to minimise human intervention and manipulation.

The petitioners argued that 30 of the 83 fitness centres already applied for conversion to ATS and invested significantly to upgrade their facilities with automated testing equipment. They contended that the govt failed to decide on these applications or issue guidelines and instead abruptly closed the centres without any formal order. They said their centres were operating under all govt guidelines issued in 2018.

Rajeev Kumar Sogarwal, counsel for the petitioners, informed the court that the fitness centres also sought an order preventing RTOs and DTOs from conducting manual vehicle inspections while their ATS applications were pending. The petitioners pointed out that the ministry of road transport and highways directed states to speed up the approval and operationalisation of ATS and phase out manual testing. Despite this, from April 1, their authorisations were withdrawn even though many had valid permissions to run fitness centres until June and Oct 2025.