Bus owner gets suspended prison term

A bus owner who operated an inter city bus service without a passenger service permit obtained from the National Transport Commission was sentenced to a three month prison term suspended for one year, for the first time by the Moratuwa magistrate on Wednesday.

In addition the Magistrate imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the bus driver concerned. The bus owner who received the suspended jail sentence was Liyanage Asoka Nanda of Kiniyawala.

The bus bearing registration number ND 3400 was caught by the NTC mobile investigation unit officers during a raid conducted in Moratuwa on October 3 with the assistance of the Police Traffic headquarters.

The bus owner and the bus was produced before the Moratuwa Magistrate on October 10 through the Moratuwa Police and the Magistrate postponed the verdict for Wednesday, October 17.

The Magistrate in his verdict sentenced the bus owner to three months imprisonment suspended for one year and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the bus driver, said the NTC in a press release.