The trader Humpery Mulino appeared before Zainabu Abdul, the Deputy Registrar at the High Court in Naivasha where he denied both charges.
The first charge stated that on the 13th May 2017 at 230Am and along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, he allowed his bus KCB 992C to operate on the road while been defective.
The second charge stated that on the same day, the bus operated on the said road without a valid license which is against the NTSA act.
The accused through his lawyer George Okatch called on the court for a reasonable bail terms arguing that he had co-operated with the police.
Okwatch told the court that soon after the accident, his client presented himself to the police terming him as a law binding citizen who would not abstain from court proceedings.
“We humbly apply to the court to set a reasonable cash bond for my client as since the accident occurred he has fully co-operated with the police,” he said.
The State Counsel Mwende Kavindu said that she was not opposed to the accused been released on bail as the case proceeded.
“Police are still pursuing the driver and the conductor of the ill-fated bus and they will be charged with various accounts once they are arrested,” she said.
In her ruling, the registrar rejected the application for the accused to be released on cash bail but set the bond at Sh1m and a surety of the same amount.
The accident occurred after the bus which plies Githurai route rammed into an incoming trailer killing eighteen people on the spot.
Two others died while undergoing treatment at the nearby St Mary’s mission as the driver and the conductor fled from the scene.
Among those who were killed in the accident were three sisters while a family of four escaped the grisly with minor injuries.
The accident has drawn condemnation from various quarters in the country with President Uhuru Kenyatta calling for through investigations into the accident.
Addressing journalists in Nairobi over the weekend, NTSA Director-general Francis Meja said that they were considering reintroducing night bans for buses.
“We are deeply concerned by the rising cases of fatal road accidents involving public service vehicles and we shall not hesitate to reintroduce the night bans,” he said.