Someone else146;s car

I started driving Dad8217;s car about a year after he purchased it in 1947. As a teenager I was not expected to be acquainted with all the ...

I started driving Dad8217;s car about a year after he purchased it in 1947. As a teenager I was not expected to be acquainted with all the traffic and automobile rules. I made their acquaintance only gradually.

The roads in the capital were less congested then. Cyclists dominated the limited vehicular traffic on the streets.

One day I was driving along the broad road overlooking Parliament House. Unlike at present, that stretch was open to vehicular traffic, but was a declared Silent Zone. Traffic policemen were ever vigilant in that area. I honked to avoid a cyclist obstructing my path and a policeman immediately whistled me to a halt. A challan was handed over to me on the spot, requiring my presence before a city judiciary magistrate within a fortnight. I returned home, determined to avoid the court appearance that Da would dislike. He would surely forbid me from using the car ever after!

Disclosing the incident to mother, I borrowed money from her and the next morning met the area police officer. Noting down my identity, the officer wanted to know if I was the owner. He seemed satisfied at my innocent confession that the vehicle belonged to my father, who was a highly placed gazetted officer in the Naval Headquarters. Coincidentally, it was Navy Day and the officer asked if I would donate for the noble cause! I promptly thrust some currency notes inside the sealed donation box lying on his table. Later, with the officer8217;s written instruction, I got the challan cancelled at the city Police Lines.

The importance of ownership of a vehicle is specifically laid down in the Motor Vehicles Act. Still driving Dad8217;s car, I was to get entangled in the issue again, under another odd circumstance.

After my father8217;s death, one day I misplaced the registration book in a movie hall. Failing to locate it I consulted an automobile lawyer who explained that as the car still belonged to my father, I was ineligible to apply for a duplicate. It was illegal to drive without a registration book; only the Motor Registration Officer would handle such a case!

In a lengthy application to the authority, explaining reasons for the delay, I requested the transfer of the car to my name. I was summoned to the office. The number of officers present there to scrutinise such offences scared me initially. Once they consulted the Rule Books, they looked foxed. The clause regarding ownership apparently says that when the owner of vehicle dies, it should be transferred to the purchaser or the seller within five years of the death. Since I fell in neither of those categories, I was let off with a verbal warning. But, I had to file an affidavit declaring the car had no other claimant. I drove through that hurdle too, successfully!