Though the High Court has set aside the transport commissioner's directive making it mandatory for every RTO inspector to collect a minimum of Rs 10,000 daily, the Surat RTO has an annual target of Rs 45 crores of which only Rs 19 crores has been collected till date.

Employees of the department six RTO inspectors and a officer contend that it is practically impossible for each of them to collect Rs 21 lakhs per month. Others were even more straightforward in saying that the top bosses in the department were asking them to collect fines well beyond their capacity.

And after the Bardoli RTO was carved out from Surat, officials here feel that the collection of fines has been further threatened.

But, according to Regional Transport Officer K M Patel, though no other RTO was achieving the target set, the performance here was comparatively better.

But to meet targets, the inspectors have practically dropped regular checking vehicles on city roads and instead focussing on highways, where fines for overloaded trucks is the highest.

In addition, luxury buses, which ply aplenty on the highways are also being fined for not having paid road taxes. Other offences for which RTO inspectors have been booking drivers are travelling without permits and licences.

Officials here feel that the motor vehicles department, in order to bypass the court's directive and to meet the annual target, has come up with the Ankleshwar checkpost, which has been erected since the past one month. ``It is a joint checkpost with inspectors from Vadodara, Bharuch, Nadiad, Valsad, Navsari and Bardoli manning them alternatively,'' Patel said.RTO inspectors have been taking turns to man the checkpost and collect finesto meet their targets. When asked as to what the department did if drivers did not have cash to pay fines, the officer said that the papers and other documents of the truck were seized and a case registered.

``But that hardly helps as these documents have to be sent to the states where the vehicles are registered and such cases lie pending for years,'' Patel said.