Chapter 1 If

(1) This Act may be called the Kerala Hackney Carriage Act, 1963. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Kerala. (3) This section and section 58 shall come into force in the whole of the State of Kerala at once. The remaining sections of this Act shall come into force at once in the areas specified in the schedule and they shall come into force in other areas of the State on such date as the Government may by notification in the Gazette appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different areas: Provided that before issuing any such notification, the Government shall publish a notice of the proposal in the Gazette inviting objections thereto and consider any objections received within the time specified therefor in the notice.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires- (1) 'Director' means in relation to any area within the jurisdiction of a Municipal Corporation or any area comprised in a Municipality or Township, the Director appointed under clause (13) of section 3 of the Kerala Municipalities Act, 1960 (Act 14 of 1961) and in relation to any Panchayat area the Director appointed under clause (7) of section 2 of the Kerala Panchayats Act, 1960 (Act 32 of 1960) ; (2) 'driving' includes drawing, pushing or propelling, and driver includes any person who drives, draws, pushes or propels any hackney carriage ; (3) 'executive authority' means, in the case of a Municipal Corporation or Municipal Council, the Commissioner of the Corporation or council as the case may be ; in the case of a Panchayat the executive authority of the Panchayat; and in the case of a Township, the executive officer of the Township Committee ; (4) 'hackney carriage' means any wheeled vehicle drawn, pushed or propelled by a man, or drawn by horse, bullock or other animal and used for the conveyance of any person or goods and which stands or plies for hire by the hour or day or according to distance, and includes a rickshaw ; (5) 'horse' includes mule or pony ; (6) 'local authority' means- (a) in any City, the Corporation of that City, (b) in any Municipal area, the Municipal council concerned (c) in any Panchayat area, the Panchayat concerned ; and (d) in any Township, the Township Committee concerned ; (7) 'Magistrate' means any magistrate having local jurisdiction in any area to which this Act extends ; (8) 'minor' means any person who has not completed the age of eighteen years ; (9) 'registering authority' means the executive authority of the local authority concerned or any other person appointed by name or by virtue of his office, by the Government for registering hackney carriages within a particular area ; (10) 'rickshaw' means a two-wheeled vehicle or a tri-cycle of special type drawn or propelled by a person and includes a cycle-rickshaw; (11) 'year of registration' means the year ending with the 31st day of March.

Nothing in this Act shall apply to a hackney carriage owned by the Government or a local authority.

Every applicant under section 5 shall be entitled to registration unless the registering authority is of opinion that the vehicle is not fit for public use: Provided that no vehicle shall be registered in the name of a minor unless the application is made by his guardian on behalf of the minor: Provided further that the registering authority may, in the interest of the public,- (1) limit the number of vehicles of any description which may be registered annually, in which case no vehicle of that description shall be registered in any year in excess of the number so limited; (2) refuse to register vehicles of a particular description in which case no vehicle of that description shall be registered; (3) limit the number of hand-pulled rickshaws to be registered in any year, to a number which shall be less by 5 per cent than the number registered in the immediately preceding year.

(1) The registering authority shall, at the time of registration, deliver a licence duly signed by it to the applicant. (2) A licence granted under this section shall be in force for the year of registration.

The following particulars shall be entered in the register and in the licence to be given to the applicant:- (1) The number in the register of the hackney carriage. (2) The name and residence of the owner and the place where the hackney carriage is kept. (3) A description of the hackney carriage. (4) The number of horses or other animals to be employed in drawing such hackney carriage and, if the hackney carriage is drawn or pushed or propelled by men, the number of men to be so employed. (5) The number of passengers such hackney carriage is licensed to carry. (6) The weight of the luggage such carriage is licensed to carry in addition to the passengers. (7) The date of the licence and its date of expiry.

A fee shall be paid to the registering authority for each licence of such sum, as may be fixed by the Director, by notification in the Gazette, subject to the condition that no such fee shall exceed the fee specified hereunder. (a) for every four wheeled carriage drawn by two or more horses licensed to carry more than six passengers Rs. 10.00 (b) for every other four wheeled carriage drawn by two horses Rs. 5.00 (c) for every other four wheeled carriage drawn by one horse or by one or more bullocks Rs. 3.00 (d) for every two wheeled carriage drawn by one or more horses Rs. 2.00 (e) for every two wheeled carriage drawn by one or more bullocks Rs. 1.00 (f) for every rickshaw, perambulator or other vehicle drawn, propelled or pushed by man or in any other manner Rs. 0.50

Every person applying for a certified copy of the particulars in the register or licence mentioned in section 8 shall be furnished the same on payment of a fee of twenty-five naye paise.

On any transfer of ownership of a hackney carriage, the transferee shall, if he desires to use it as such, within one week from the date of the transfer, apply to the registering authority for transfer of the registry, giving it the particulars specified in the first three clauses of section 8.

(1) Whenever the owner of a hackney carriage changes his residence, or the place where such carriage is kept, he shall within one week from the date of such change forward his licence and give to the registering authority a notice in writing signed by him specifying the new residence or place. (2) Every such owner who neglects to forward his licence or give such notice shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty rupees.

The registering authority, on receiving the application or notice specified in section 12 or section 13, shall make the necessary alteration in the register and the licence, and return the licence; and a fee of twenty-five naye paise shall be payable along with every such application or notice.

Any person aggrieved by any order refusing registration of any vehicle under section 6 or suspending a licence under section 11, may within thirty days from the date of intimation of such order, appeal to the local authority concerned and the order passed in appeal shall be final.

If any hackney carriage stands or plies for hire without a plate or legible inscription as prescribed by section 17, the owner thereof shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty rupees.

(1) On the expiration or other determination of the period of registration, the owner of every hackney carriage shall cause the plate, if any, of such hackney carriage to be delivered to the registering authority. (2) Any person who, after the expiration of the period aforesaid, wilfully omits for fourteen days to deliver the plate, if any, to the said authority, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty rupees.

(1) The registering authority may grant a licence to act as driver of any hackney carriage to any applicant whom it may consider fit, provided he is not a minor. (2) Every such licence shall contain— (i) the number of the licence, the name, place of abode and age of the person to whom such licence is granted. (ii) the description of the carriage and animals, if any, to be used therewith ; and (iii) the date on which the licence was granted and the date of its expiry; and shall bear the signature of the registering authority. (3) Such licence shall be in force for the year of registration and the fee payable therefor shall be one rupee and fifty naye paise: Provided that no fee shall be payable for the licence for the driver of a rickshaw; and the fee payable for the licence for driver of any hackney carriage mentioned in clause (f) of section 9, other than a rickshaw, shall be twenty-five naye paise.

The particulars of every licence granted under section 21 shall be entered in a register by the registering authority and every person applying shall be furnished with a certified copy of such particulars on payment of a fee of twenty-five naye paise.

If any person acts as the driver of a hackney carriage without having a licence in force for the time being or, having a licence, fails to carry it with him when driving a hackney carriage, or transfers or lends it or allows it to be used by any other person, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty rupees.

The registering authority may suspend for such period as it thinks fit the licence of the driver of a hackney carriage whenever, in its opinion, such driver is unfit to be so employed.

Any person aggrieved by an order refusing grant of a licence under section 21 or suspending a licence under section 24 may, within thirty days from the date of intimation of such order, appeal to the local authority concerned and the order passed in appeal shall be final.

The owner of a hackney carriage who knowingly suffers any person, not duly licenced under this Act, to act as driver of such carriage, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty rupees: Provided that such owner and such unlicenced driver shall be subject to all the provisions of this Act for any act done or omitted to be done by such driver during such employment in like manner as if such driver had been duly licensed.

(1) The registering authority shall at the time of granting a licence to any driver of a hackney carriage, furnish him with a metal badge punched or marked with the number of his licence. (2) Every driver to whom such badge is delivered shall, at all times while acting as driver, wear such badge exposed to view. (3) In case any such driver omits to wear such badge exposed to view while acting as driver he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ten rupees. (4) Whenever the number on any badge becomes indistinct or is obliterated during the term of the licence, or whenever any badge is lost or stolen, the person to whom the licence relating to any such badge has been granted shall deliver such badge or notify its loss and shall produce such licence to the registering authority, and such person shall then be entitled to have a new licence and badge delivered to him upon payment of the fee specified in section 21. Such new licence shall be in force for the year of registration. (5) Every person licensed under the authority of this Act who uses or wears the badge granted to him after the writing thereon has become indistinct or obliterated shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ten rupees.

(1) Upon the expiration or other determination of any licence granted to a driver under this Act he shall deliver such licence and his badge to the registering authority. (2) Every driver who neglects for three days to deliver such expired licence and badge to the registering authority and also every person who uses or wears or fraudulently detains any such expired licence or badge and every person to whom any expired licence or badge has been delivered, who lends, gives away, pledges or sells such badge to any other person, and every person who detains, wears or uses any licence, or badge of any other person, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty rupees.

Every person who, for the purpose of deception, uses or wears any badge resembling or intended to resemble any badge granted under the authority of this Act, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty rupees, and in the case of a subsequent conviction under this section, with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month.

Any officer of the local authority duly empowered in that behalf by the registering authority or any Police officer may seize and take away any expired or counterfeit badge, or any badge in respect of which an offence under section 28 has been committed, wheresoever the same may be found, and deliver the same to the registering authority.

Whenever any driver is summoned to appear before any Magistrate to answer any charge preferred against him under this Act, he shall carry with him his licence, and produce the same if required so to do, and any driver who, on such requisition, refuses to produce such licence, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five rupees.

(1) The owner or driver of every hackney carriage may demand and receive for the hire of such carriage such fares as may be fixed and published by the registering authority with the sanction of the Director, duly notified: Provided that any agreement entered into to accept a fare lower than the fare so fixed shall be binding. (2) No owner or driver shall demand or receive over and above the said fare any sum for back fare for the return of the carriage from the place at which it was discharged.

No agreement made with the driver of any hackney carriage for the payment of more than the fare published in accordance with section 34 shall be binding on the person making the same, and any person, notwithstanding such agreement, may refuse on discharging such hackney carriage to pay any sum beyond such fare. If, in pursuance of such agreement, any person receives any sum exceeding the fare allowed, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ten rupees and also to refund such excess, which shall be recoverable as if it were a fine.

(1) The registering authority shall cause to be prepared a list in English and in any other local language of the fares published under section 34 and shall annex to such list a table showing the distance between the principal places to and from which hackney carriages commonly ply. The distances so shown shall be presumed to be correct. (2) Copies of such list and table shall be issued to all applicants on payment of a fee of twenty-five naye paise for each copy or of such other sum as the registering authority, subject to the control of the Director, may prescribe. (3) The driver of every hackney carriage standing or plying for hire shall have with him a copy of such list and table and shall on demand produce the same for the inspection of any Police Officer or of any officer of the local authority duly authorised in that behalf by the registering authority or for the information of any hirer of, or passenger by his carriage, and shall in default, be liable to a fine not exceeding ten rupees. (4) The registering authority shall also cause an abstract of the fares referred to in sub-section (1) to be prepared in English and in any other local language and printed on enamelled plates and such plates shall be issued to applicants on payment of a fee of twenty-five naye paise for each plate. (5) Every hackney carriage shall have such a plate affixed and as often as any portion of the printing on any such plate becomes indistinct or obliterated, re-affixed, on a conspicuous part of the carriage in accordance with the directions of the registering authority. (6) If any hackney carriage stands or plies for hire without such a plate affixed or re-affixed as required by sub-section (5), the owner and driver thereof shall be punishable with fine not exceeding twenty rupees.

The driver of every hackney carriage shall carry in or upon such carriage without additional charge such quantity of luggage for every person hiring the same as may be prescribed by the rules under this Act.

Any owner or driver of any hackney carriage who demands more than the fare to which he is legally entitled, or without reasonable excuse refuses to let such carriage for hire, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty rupees and to pay such further sum by way of compensation to the party complaining as to the Magistrate may seem just, and such further sum shall, in default of immediate payment, be levied as if it were a fine.

Every driver of a hackney carriage who— (a) is drunk during his employment, (b) makes use of insulting or abusive language or gesture, (c) stands elsewhere than at some stand or other places appointed for the purpose of loiters for the purpose of being hired in or upon any public street, road or place, (d) wilfully obstructs, or hinders, the driver of any other hackney carriage in taking up or setting down any person into, or from such other carriage; (e) wrongfully prevents or endeavours to prevent the driver of any other hackney carriage from being hired; (f) refuses to admit and carry in such carriage the number of passengers the carriage is licenced to carry; (g) carries more than such number of passengers; (h) refuses to carry the quantity of luggage allowed by the licence; (i) being hired, permits or suffers any person to be carried in or upon or about such hackney carriage during such hire, without the consent of the person hiring the same; (j) drives in any hackney carriage any animal which is not so secured as to be under the control of the driver; (k) being hired by time or distance, before he has been discharged by the hirer, wilfully deserts from the hiring; (l) plies for hire with any carriage or animal which shall at the time be unfit for public use; (m) plies for hire with any carriage which is not fitted with any suitable warning signal, such as bell, horn or other contrivance; (n) without previously disinfecting it, knowingly uses for hire any carriage used for the conveyance of a corpse or any person suffering from any contagious or infectious disease; (o) demands advance payment of fare; (p) refuses to obey the reasonable directions of any person hiring his vehicle; and (q) permits the inside of the hackney carriage of which he is in charge, to become dirty, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty rupees, or to imprisonment which may extend to one month or to both.

(1) When a complaint is made before a Magistrate against the driver of a hackney carriage under this Act, the Magistrate may if the driver fails to appear, summon the owner to appear and to furnish the correct address of the driver. (2) If the owner after being duly summoned fails, without reasonable excuse, to appear or furnish the correct address of the driver according to the summons, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty rupees. (3) If the owner fails without reasonable excuse to appear or furnish the correct address of the driver on a subsequent summons requiring him to do so, the Magistrate may dispose of the complaint in the absence of the owner and driver or either of them.

Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the fine in respect of any offence relating to rickshaws under this Act shall not exceed ten rupees.

(1) In case of any dispute between the hirer and driver of any hackney carriage, either may require the other to proceed forthwith to the nearest Magistrate's court and the then sitting Magistrate shall hear and determine the dispute in a summary way. (2) If no Magistrate be then sitting, either party may require the other to proceed to the nearest Police Officer who shall enter the complaint in his diary and require the parties to appear before the Magistrate at his next sitting. (3) On failure of either party to appear before the Magistrate in pursuance of a requisition under sub-section (1), or sub-section (2) or to attend the Court at any subsequent sitting to which the case may be adjourned, the Magistrate may decide the case ex-parte, and his decision shall be binding on both parties.

(1) If any person who has hired a hackney carriage refuses to pay to the owner or driver thereof, the fare payable under this Act, the Magistrate may order payment of such fare, and also of reasonable compensation for loss of time, and in default of immediate payment, such fare and compensation may be recovered as a fine. (2) If any person who has used any such carriage attempts to evade payment of the legal fare, or any portion thereof, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty rupees in addition to any payment which may have been ordered under sub-section (1).

(1) Every person who wilfully tears, destroys, defaces, obliterates or removes any plate, list of fares, table of distances, or driver's badge, kept under the provisions of this Act, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty rupees. (2) Any portion of the fine may be awarded to the person to whom such plate, list of fares, table of distances, or driver's badge belongs.

Every person using a hackney carriage who wilfully causes any damage to the same, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty rupees and shall also pay to the owner such compensation for the damage as the Magistrate may direct; and such compensation shall be leviable as if it were a fine.

(1) The registering authority shall appoint a sufficient number of public stands for hackney carriages. (2) Every public stand so appointed shall have a board placed in a conspicuous place on the same, containing a notice in English and in any other local language stating that the stand is a public stand under this Act, and specifying the number of carriages that may be stationed in it.

If, in any prosecution under this Act, the person charged does not appear as directed by the summons, the Magistrate may, upon proof of personal service and if no sufficient cause be shown for the non-appearance, proceed to dispose of the case in his absence.

(1) No person shall be liable to prosecution for any offence under this Act unless the complaint respecting such offence be made within one month next after the commission of such offence. (2) For the purposes of this section, every failure or contravention punishable under this Act shall be deemed to be a continuing offence so long as the failure or contravention continues.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder, the Government, may after previous publication, make special rules for the licensing of rickshaws and rickshaw pullers. (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power such rules may-(a) prescribe the period for which the rickshaws, hand-pulled and cycle-driven, are to be permitted to ply; (b) prescribe the size and design of rickshaw and the conditions for grant of licence; (c) prescribe the period after which the licence has to be renewed; (d) prescribe the standard of physical fitness, with special reference to age, required for rickshaw pullers and drivers; (e) prescribe the rates of fees to be paid by rickshaw puller and drivers for medical certificates; (f) prescribe the penalties for the violation of any of the rule by the owner of the rickshaw or by the puller or driver of the rickshaw.

(1) The Government may, after previous publication, make rules, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, to carry out the purposes of this Act. (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may be made with regard to-(a) the examination and qualifications of drivers and the conditions under which they may be employed; (b) the description of horses, bullocks or other animals, harness and other things to be used with hackney carriages, the dimensions of such carriages, the condition in which such carriages and horses, bullocks or other animals, harness and other things used therewith shall be kept; (c) the inspection of the premises on which any such carriages, horses, bullocks or other animals, harness and other things are kept; (d) the inspection of hackney carriages with a view to see if such carriages are in a fit condition for public use; (e) the fitting of bells, horns or other warning signals to carriages and for testing the same; (f) the protection of weak, lame and sickly horses, bullocks or other animals; (g) the publication of the list of fares and table of distances and the regulation of the amount and weight of luggage to be carried with or without additional charges; and (h) generally for carrying out the purposes of this Act. (3) Every rule made under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before the Legislative Assembly while it is in session for a total period of fourteen days which may be comprised in one session or in two successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session in which it is so laid, or the session immediately following, the Legislative Assembly makes any modification in the rule or decides that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so however that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule.

Every local authority may, with the previous approval of the Director, make bye-laws not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder on matters not covered by the rules.

Whoever infringes any rule or bye-law shall, on conviction before a Magistrate, be liable to a fine not exceeding Rs. 20.

With the sanction of the Director, the registering authority may delegate to any other officer under it all or any of its functions under this Act.