Seventeen cars have been towed away in Harvard Square as part of the Cambridge Police Department's efforts to control parking violations, Police Chief Patrick F. Ready said yesterday.

Ready stated that the owners of the cars had either ignored "up to seventeen" parking tickets or were operating illegally registered cars. Ready then warned that students could be fined up to $100 for the latter offense and threatened court action against habitual violators of the parking regulations.

Police Keep Lists

The police, Ready said, were keeping lists of registrations of cars whose owners were ignoring more than 1 ticket. The lists are checked against violations daily. Towing, he added, costs six dollars plus a dollar a day, plus "suitable fines."

Meanwhile, the University appeared to be getting nowhere on the problem of illegal parking on its property. It has just transferred jurisdiction over this matter from the Building and Grounds Department to the office of A.D. Trottenberg '48, Manager of Operating Services. Trottenberg, queried yesterday about his new duties, reported that he had just returned from vacation and had not yet had time to study the problem.

The University had expressed concern last week over the fact that Summer School students were parking their cars on Harvard property. Although at present the University has no way of disciplining such violators, it is expected that in future years Summer School students will be asked to register their cars, as regular Harvard students must.