Kerala RTO SEIZES vanity vans brought for actors Nayanthara, Nivin Pauly & Dhyan Srinivasan

Traffic Police across India has been getting stricter of lately. There have been many cases recently which show that road safety as well as motor vehicle rules are being taken seriously by law enforcers. Now another case has joined this list and this time its not limited to just random commuters. The enforcement squad of Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) in Kerala has seized three vanity vans from a shooting location in Kalamassery, Kochi. The exact reason for this action is said to be non payment of taxes. All of the three vans were later released upon paying the fine and completing the necessary formalities.

The vanity vans were present on the shoot location where the shooting of a Malayalam movie was going on. They were brought in for Actress Nayantara and  Actors Nivin Pauly and Dhyan Srinivasan. However, they did not belong to these actors and were probably rented for the course of the shoot. The MVD enforcement squad raided the shoot premises as directed by Ernakulam RTO P Jose and enforcement RTO Manoj Kumar. Out of the the three vanity vans, one was a heavily modified one with 19 seats and other enhancements. This one alone attracted a huge fine of Rs. 1.5 lakhs, which is quite a sum. The total fine that was paid to bail out the three vanity vans is Rs. 2 lakhs.

The other two vans had a total fine of Rs. 50,000 upon them combined while the 19 seat one had the biggest fine on its head. The other two vanity vans also has registration of other state. For the same, a case has been registered for renting these private vehicles which had other-state registration. They were registered in Tamil Nadu while the 19 seater vanity van was registered in Kerala.

As already mentioned, the raid was undertaken by MVD’s enforcement wing and Kochi RTO in a joint operation. During the time of raid, only drivers and crew were present in the vehicles. This marks it as a first of its kind case and hints towards the stricter regulations and rules that are being implemented out to curb unlawful practices.

The seizure of these vanity vans in itself is a issue of concern for the movie industry. This has worried many actors across the industry for obvious reasons. The reason for this is the fact that vanity vans are used regularly by them whenever the shoot location is at a place which can be accessed by these vehicles. They use it to dress up, rest, have food and travel in comfort during the course of the shoot. However, this incident has made them all worry about whether more such raids are in the offing. This could lead to possible trouble for all people involved in a shoot.

One solution for this could be to rent local vanity vans and use them during the course of shooting. However, since many actors prefer their own vehicles, it may not be very feasible. The move made by the MVD officials is a good one to curb unlawful practices. Another recent incident reflected the fact that the Police would sent notice to the HR department of a person’s company in case they are caught involved in drunk driving. Also, the recent Supreme Court ruling that has barred all types of vehicle modifications will result in a huge Police crackdown soon. Since that verdict is new, no big cases have been reported as yet but expect the defaulters to pay heavy fines soon.