Government of Tamilnadu – Motor Vehicles Maintenance Department

HISTORY

FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENTS

The Tamil Nadu motor vehicle maintenance department entrusted with the responsibility to look after and maintain the vehicles attached to various Government departments has fourteen workshops and one service station under its control at various district headquarters with a materials management unit at madras. The department has proposals for opening new units at various places.

The origin of the TamilNadu motor vehicles maintenance department dates back to 1945 when few transport units were formed during the Second World War in the erstwhile composite Madras State under the control of Board of Revenue (Civil Supplies) for procurement and transportation of food grains. Consequent on de-rationing during 1952, all these units except those at Madras and Thanjavur were wound up and the units at Madras and Thanjavur with men and material was constituted as Motor Vehicle Maintenance Organisation with effect from 15.8.1955. This re-constituted set up continued to function under the board of Revenue (Land Revenue) as a service organisation to look after the maintenance of motor vehicles that were being supplied to District officials under the first five year plan.

SET UP

At the time of inception, there were only two workshops one each at Madras and Thanjavur. In the year 1959, two more workshops one each at Madurai and Salem were established.

OBJECT

The main object with which the Motor vehicles maintenance organisation was formed was to look after the unkeep and maintenance of motor vehicles of various Government department and to offer reasonable of time the organisation began to render advices as technical matters relating to motor vehicles to government. The ultimate object envisaged is to establish modern and well equipped automobile workshops in each District headquarters interlinked by servicing centers, eliminating the dependency on private workshops for repairs and maintenance of Government vehicles deployed on various programs of the Government.

All the department vehicles are governed by the Tamilnadu Departmental vehicle Control rules except that of Police, PWD, and highways and Rural Works Department. The Tamilnadu Department vehicle control rules are incorporated in Appendix-26 of MFC Vol.II.

GROWTH

All the departmental vehicles are governed by the Tamilnadu Departmental Vehicles control Rules except that of Police, public works and highways & Rural Works Departments. at its inception the motor vehicles maintenance Organisation had control over about 100 vehicles. The population of vehicles considerably increased during 1955 to 1964 due to expanded activities of Government. All departments governed by the Tamilnadu Departmental Vehicle Control Rules are statutorily obligated to entrust the vehicles to Motor vehicles Maintenance Department for repairs and maintenance. Consequent on the increase in the number of vehicles, the workshops established were found to be inadequate to meet fully the demands and the need for expansion was felt.

During the year 1964, the control of the Organisation was delinked from Revenue Department and attached to the erstwhile Tamilnadu State Transport Department and consequently the Organisation was converted as a commercial one. During 1966, a major re-organisation was given effect to, increasing the man power and providing additional tools, equipments and machineries to render services to the enlarged number of vehicles deployed on various welfare programmes.

The stores section functioning at Government Central Automobile Workshop, Madras was organised into a service unit called Central purchase and storage unit to correlate the purchase and distribution of spare parts and to centralize such activities to achieve the benefits of bulk purchases.

In the year 1970, the Government accorded sanction for establishing six service stations at the following places.

1.KANCHEEPURAM	2.CUDDALORE
3.TIRUNELVELI	4.TIRUCHIRAPLLI
5.COIMBATORE	6.VELLORE

Of those, the service station for kancheepuram , cuddalore, Tirunelveli, and Tiruchirapalli started functioning from 1971-72. the service station at coimbatore was commissioned in 1976.

With the formation of pallavan Transport corporation in 1971 and the thiruvalluvar Transport corporation on 15th September 1975, the motor vehicles maintenance organisation was put under the control of a special officer, who was also in -charge of the residuary times of the work of the erstwhile Tamilnadu state Transport Department. the state Road Transport officer was in-charge of the Technical aspects of work of the motor vehicles maintenance organisaton. This arrangement was realized to be not effective.

The Government formed many Transport corporation for the maintenance and operation of bus service in the state effectively. the operation of bus service and allied activities are technical in nature. Therefore the managing directors of the Transport Corporations were made Technocrats in the cadre of Superintending Engineers and it was found that the above set-up with Technocrat as Managing Director of the Transport Corporations have yielded good result in all its sphere of activities and all the Transport Corporations have got awards for various activates, in India.

The motor vehicles maintenance organisation and its functions are also technical in nature. Therefore, Government at their wisdom decided to have a technocrat as head of department for this also and the motor vehicles maintenance organisation was converted into a separate department with director as head of department under the administrative control of Transport Department in Government vide G.O.Ms.No.313 Transport Department dt.4.6.77. The first Director of the Department assumed charge on 10.6.77.

With the sanction of a post of Director to head the Department and the Director, being a Technocrat, the technical adviser in the previous set-up (viz.,) state road Transport Officer, in the Directorate was found to be no necessary. the Fisheries Department which was maintaining an automobile workshop, was closed and the men and materials were transferred to motor vehicles maintenance organisation on 1.4.77. Due to the increase in the number of vehicles to be repaired at the Government Central Automobile Workshop and also due to the transfer of the function of maintenance of vehicles of Fisheries Department to the Control of this department. the post of state road transport officer in the Directorate in the rank of Executive Engineer was redesignated as Works Manager and made the head of the Government Central Automobile Workshop, Velachery, Madras.

With the increased strength in the number of vehicles, the service stations established were not able to cope with the pressure of work with limited number of technical staff. Therefore the Government upgraded the service stations at the following places into major workshops sanctioning the required additional staff and machineries.

1. KANCHEEPURAM	2. TIRUCHIRAPALLI
3. CUDDALORE	4. COIMBATORE

The Government also sanctioned an Automobile Workshop for Nagercoil. The upgraded workshops and the unit at Nagercoil started functioning from 2.1.79.

The Automobile Workshops were formerly known as regional Workshops. Consequent on opening of workshops in various district headquarters, the workshops were named as “Government Automobile Workshops” form january 1979 onwards.

During the year 1981, the department was again ordered to function as a service Department and the same was given effect from 1.4.81.

To achieve effective planning and to purchase of spare parts, accessories etc to meet the increased demands. the central purchase and storage unit was converted as materials management unit and put under the control of a materials manager in the cadre of an Executive Engineer.

A full fledged workshop for Dharmapuri District was sanctioned during the year 1981. The workshop at Dharmapuri started functioning from the year 1982.

Many of the vehicles owning officers were not able to assess the value of the vehicle on its condemnation and they were also not conversant with the procedures and formalities to be adopted to conduct the sales of such condemned vehicles, resulting in abnormal delay in disposing the vehicles. Due to the prolonged delay, the condition of the vehicle deteriorated and the value realized fell down sharply resulting in considerable loss to Government. Therefore, the government thought of centralized agency to dispose the condemned vehicles in a more scientific and systematic manner and since the director, motor vehicles maintenance department is well conversant with technical matters, the activities of disposal of condemned vehicles were attached to this department during the year 1980 withdrawing the powers vested with the vehicle owning officers till then.

The powers to order the condemnation of departmental vehicles were originally with the Government. (vide G.O.MS.NO.1062 home dt.5.4.60). The powers to order condemnation of vehicles that satisfied the norms prescribed were delegated to the concerned head of department during 1979 to eliminate the delay in the process.(vide G.O.MS.No.960 Home dt12.4.79). since this procedure was also found to be Director of this department to issue orders for condemnation of department vehicles that satisfied the norms prescribed in 1982. (Vide G.O.MS.NO.2882 Home(Transport – IV)dt.17.11.82). The service station established in 1971 at Tirunelveli was upgraded as a full fledged workshop from March 1983. To cope with the ever growing activities of the department and to ease the burden on the Directorate and to decentralize the activities, two regional deputy directorates one each at salem and Tiruchy were sanctioned in 1983 and they started functioning from August 1984.

The nomenclature of Motor Vehicles maintenance organisation was changed as “Tamilnadu Motor Vehicles Maintenance Department” in January 1983 so as to be more synonymous with a service Department.(G.O.MS.NO.31,Transport Department dt.10.1.1983).