He was driving a private bus (DL-1P 6914) owned by Dilshad Garden-based Chetan Travels this afternoon; he had picked up the children from the Andhra School on Deen Dayal Upadhaya Marg.

When traffic inspector Sanjev Kumar Tyagi flagged him down on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg this afternoon for a routine inspection, he found that Padam was violating almost every clause in the rule book, as well as the Supreme Court order issued on November 20, 1997, regarding bus safety.

According to the apex court's order, Padam should have had at least five years of experience in driving heavy vehicles; he should have been wearing his uniform.

His defence before the traffic inspector was that he was filling in for the regular driver, which again was a violation of the Supreme Court order.

``But I have been a helper for 10 years,'' said Padam, in an attempt to excuse himself for his lack of driving experience. The Supreme Court had directed: ``Any vehicle being driven by a person other than the authorised driver shall be treated as being used in contravention of the permit''. Padam also had no explanation for the missing speed governor -- a metal plate or a rod -- supposed to be affixed below the accelerator in a way that would prevent the driver from accelerating beyond 40 km per hour.

In a 40-minute long checking drive on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg this afternoon, traffic inspector Tyagi handed out challans to nine other bus drivers for various offences like lane jumping and overtaking. Tyagi told the drivers to deposit their vehicles in Kotwali police station after completing their current trip and appear before the designated court tomorrow and pay their fines. All the drivers were driving Bluelines or private buses operating under the Delhi Transport Corporation. Their common violation was over-taking and tampering with speed-governors.

Driver Khudiram Ali of a bus under DTC operation (DL-1PA 1484) is an example. He had overtaken four other buses from near the Ambedkar Stadium bus stop before he was flagged down. An inspection of the vehicle revealed there were more than 35 passengers standing inside (an order issued by the the L-G last year allows only 20 people to stand).

The inspection, more importantly, also revealed Ali's ingenuity in tampering with the speed governor. He had fixed a metal strip under the accelerator pedal. A cursory glance would have indicated that the pedal could be pushed down only up to the metal strip. But only a detailed inspection revealed that Ali had increased the length of the metal rod connecting the pedal with the engine, which gives him sufficient room to increase the speed of the vehicle. ``If we don't do this, it takes a long time for the bus to pick up speed. And then there is stiff competition among bus drivers to reach their destination first. I admit we sometimes drive at over 60 km per hour''.

Other drivers like Bhagwan Ashre apparently don't mind the number of times they have been challaned. He has been challaned five times this year, and his bus still doesn't have a speed-governor. The speedometer also does not work. Other buses challaned today are: Bluelines (DL-1PA-0615, DL-1PA-1056, DL-1PA-1132, DL-1P-2756 and DL-1P-8493) and under DTC buses (DL-1PA-1484, DL-1PA-1389, DL-1P-1102 and DL-1PA-0702).