Chief Justice of Appeal Court has ruled that the Certificate of Road Worthiness has no application to private motor vehicles by virtue of the provisions of all relevant laws relating to Road Traffic, putting a dent to the over N30 billion collected by authorities annually from private vehicle owners
IT News Nigeria:
His Lordship Joseph Eyo Ekanem ruled between the Governor of DELTA STATE of Nigeroa and OLUKUNLE OGHENEOVO EDUN, ESQ, according to a Report.
As at 2018, the number of Registered Private Vehicles in Nigeria is 4,868,294.129 and Certificate of Road Worthiness cost N5200 per vehicles today.
His Lordship Joseph Eyo Ekanem, JCA held that:
‘‘Before drawing the curtain on this judgment, I need to remind public bodies and public officers that a public body or public officer vested with statutory power must take care not to exceed or abuse its or his power.
“It or he must keep within the limits of the authority committed to it. This is to prevent arbitrariness and the rule of man rather than the rule of law. See Wilson v. Attorney-General of Bendel State (1985) 1 NWLR (pt. 4) 572, at 591.
“The Vehicle Inspection Officers went beyond the powers vested in them by the law and the Road Traffic Regulations, by violently stopping the private motor vehicle of the Respondent on a public highway, using menacing tactics and dangerous implements to demand for Certificate of Road Worthiness which the said vehicle is not required to have.
“Such conduct sends a wrong signal to the citizens who may adopt such strong-arm tactics as a means of settling disputes’’.
IT was argued that the only section that authorizes the Law enforcement to examine vehicles is Regulation 58 of the Regulations, which relates only to examination of commercial vehicles and the issuance of certificate therefor after such examination.
He referred to Section 2 of the Law (the interpretation Section) and submitted that his vehicle does not fall within the definition of a commercial vehicle.
He also referred to Regulation 2 of the Regulation and Section 43 of the Law, which empowers the State Execution Council to make regulations on various matters relating to road traffic and Regulation 5 of the Regulation made pursuant thereto, which he said relates to the examination of commercial vehicles only.
He argued that there is no similar provision in respect of vehicles used for private purposes.
Their Lordships held that Paragraphs (2), (3), (4) and (5) of Regulation 5 of the Road Traffic Regulations (RTR) made detailed and comprehensive provisions for the factors or matters that must be present for the registration of categories of vehicles as follows:
(1)Paragraph (2) is for registration of commercial and passenger carrying vehicles, to wit: categories (iv), (v), (vi), (vii) and (viii) of the paragraph (1).
(2)Paragraph 3 is for registration of trailers (that is to say category (iii) of paragraph (1).
(3)Paragraph 4 is for registration of agricultural machine, that is to say category (ix) of paragraph (1).
(4)Paragraph 5 is for registration of tractor, that is to say category (x) of paragraph 1..
The requirements include the production of a Certificate of Road Worthiness issued under Regulation 58 at the time of the application for registration.
Regulation 58(1) and (2) of the RTR states:
(1) Every commercial vehicle, trailer, taxi, stage carriage, omnibus, shall before being registered or licensed and every 6 month thereafter, be examined by a Vehicle Inspection Officer.
(2) Examination Certificate – where at such examination a vehicle is found to be roadworthy, the Vehicle Inspection Officer shall issue a certificate to that effect as in Form M. L. 9 in the Sixth Schedule, which shall remain valid for 6 months. Such certificate shall be carried in the registration book and produced when required by Licensing Authority, a Vehicle Inspector or a Police Officer.”
Their Lordships held that this requirement applies only to vehicles that come under paragraphs (2) and (3) only, that is, commercial and passenger carrying vehicles and trailers.
Their Lordships held that it is, therefore, clear from the above that the provisions of Regulation 5 is loudly silent in respect of private motor vehicles.
