The Centre is implementing New Motor Vehicle Act which aims to overhaul country’s transportation laws by addressing several crucial issues and one of the significant provisions mentioned in the new act like stiffer penalties for traffic violation will soon become a reality from September 1, 2019.
Under the new (Motor Vehicles [Amendment] bill which was passed in both the Houses of the Parliament recently, the government has decided to implement 63 different clauses with updated fines for cases of drunken driving, over speeding and overloading among others.
When the new regulation comes into effect, obtaining a driving license will become tougher if motorists don’t have adequate skills because the clearance test will become mote tech-driven.
While the bill reduces the validity of the driving licence from the current 20 years to just 10 years, in case of recalls, it will be mandatory for vehicle manufacturers to reimburse buyers with the complete cost of the vehicle in case of selling of a defective model. The bill also addresses other talking points like regulation of taxi aggregators such as Ola and Uber to make them more compliant.
But the biggest changes that the new act will reinforce are the exponential rise in fines for violation of traffic rules. Here is the list of all violations and comparison of their old and revised penalty charges.
Vehicular documents found validated through electronic means shall not be demanded in physical forms for inspection, it said and added that details of driving licences disqualified or revoked by the licensing authority will be recorded and updated chronologically in the portal.
"Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has recently issued notifications regarding various amendments in Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989 requiring implementation of enforcement, Maintenance of Vehicular Documents and E-Challans through portal w.e.f 1.10.2020 for better monitoring and enforcement of MV Rules," MoRTH said in a statement.
Use of IT services and electronic monitoring will result in better enforcement of traffic rules in the country and will lead to removing harassment of drivers and would facilitate the citizens, it said.
This was required after the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019 was passed and was published on 9th August, 2019, the government said.
"The amendment inter-alia provides for the definition for Challan, Portal inserted as requirement for providing the services through IT and further the enforcement of electronic monitoring and enforcement," it added.
Details of driving licences disqualified or revoked by the licensing authority shall be recorded chronologically in the portal and such record shall be reflected on a regular basis on the portal has been provided for, the government said and added, thus the record shall be maintained electronically and further the driver behaviour would be monitored.
Provisions have been made for the procedure for Production and Obtaining Certificates in physical as well as electronic form, the validity, issuance of such documents and further the date and time stamping of inspection and identity of the Officer will be recorded, the statement said.
It has been provided that if the details of the documents are found validated through the electronic means by the enforcement officer then physical forms of such documents shall not be demanded for inspection, including in cases where there is an offence made out necessitating seizure of any such documents, the statement said.
"Further upon demanding or inspecting any documents, the date and time stamp of inspection and identity of the police officer in uniform or any other officer authorized by the State Government, shall be recorded on the Portal. This would help in unnecessary re-checking or inspection of vehicles and further would remove harassment to the drivers," the statement said.
It has been provided that the use of handheld communications devices while driving shall solely be used for route navigation in such a manner that it shall not disturb the concentration of the driver while driving.
The government also said that certain amendments in the Motor Vehicles (Driving) Regulations 2017 have been made to align it to the Amendment in the Act like use of handheld device, inspection of documents in electronic form etc.
(PTI)
Also Read:
Here are the new changes that will be applicable from today:
In order to add to vehicle owners convenience and avoid harassment of commuters by traffic officials, the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has notified various amendments in Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989 that will be effective from October 1, 2020
You May Also Read:
Odisha: Pvt Company Slapped Rs 7.5 Crore Penalty For ‘Illegal Stone Mining’