Motor Vehicle Act

 Motor Vehicle Act 

The Motor Vehicles Act is an Act of the Parliament of India which regulates all aspects of road transport vehicles. The Act provides in detail the legislative provisions regarding licensing of drivers/conductors, registration of motor vehicles, control of motor vehicles through permits, special provisions relating to state transport undertakings, traffic regulation, insurance, liability, offences and penalties, etc. For exercising the legislative provisions of the Act, the Government of India made the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989.

Objective of the act is protect the innocent who travelling on the road and can get effected by the drivers, the drivers are not liable until this act was passed. Thus, under the motor vehicle act, there was a provision for compensation for these helpless people on the road.

Under the Motor Vehicles Acts, no drivers can drive without registration under vehicle act first.

Also, this registration certificate is valid from the date of issuing to the next fifteen years.

Furthermore, the license can be renewed for five more years. There are various offenses that are covered under the motor vehicle act – 1988. Also, for these offenses, there are penalties which need to be paid by the person who has committed the crime.

Various offenses under the motor vehicle act and their penalties

Section 3 r/w of the motor vehicle act states that if a person is found to be driving without a valid license when he/she will have to pay a penalty of Rs. 500. Also, there can be imprisonment under the same offense up to 3 months. While section 5 r/w states that if a person allows another person to drive his vehicle without any valid license that he will pay a fine of Rs. 1000. This punishment can also be held with or without imprisonment.

There are three offenses that are under section 130 r/w 177. The first one states that if a person drives without valid vehicle insurance than he/she will be liable to pay a fine of Rs. 1000. Also, without a valid permit if the person drives the vehicle that he/she will be levied a fine up to Rs. 5000.

Furthermore, if the person drives the vehicle without a valid fitness test then he/she will be liable to pay the fine up to Rs. 2000. Under section 4 r/s of the Motor vehicle act, if a minor is caught driving a vehicle that he/she will be levied a fine of Rs. 500. While if a person allows an unauthorized person to drive than he/she will be levied a penalty of Rs. 1000.

If a person is caught driving without a helmet than under the section 5 r/w he/she will be levied a fine of Rs. 100. Under section 138(3) of the Motor vehicle act, a person found driving without the seat-belt is charged a penalty of Rs. 100. For various scenarios, there are various penalties under the motor vehicle act – 1988. These all offenses can be found on the government website of India.

Salient features of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019

The important features of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 are as under-

Road And Environment Health

In case the vehicles are not fit to be used on roads as they cause environmental damage and hence harm the health of others, they have to be returned to the manufacturers of the respective vehicles. The manufacturers through this amendment are directed to take back these vehicles and have the choice to either reimburse or replace the defective vehicle with one of similar make. 

Road Safety

This Amendment vehemently propagates the increase in the penalty for traffic rule offenders. This is done in the hope that this increased fine would force the drivers to be more alert and careful on the roads. This amendment provides more stringent rules for offences like juvenile driving, drunken driving, over speeding, overloading and driving without a license. Stricter punishment for those driving without helmets is also made in this Amendment. 

Fitness Of Vehicle

This Amendment has provisions mandating the automated testing of vehicles for doing a fitness check. This would help improve road safety by removing from the traffic unfit vehicles. This Amendment makes specific provision for those who deliberately violate environment and safety regulations. 

This Amendment promoted certification of automobiles after they were successfully tested. The regulation of this process of certification was also proposed via this Act. In addition to this, Amendment of 2019 aims at setting testing standards and bringing the agencies issuing automotive approvals under the Motor Vehicles Act. 

National Road Safety Board

Another major feature of this Act is the provision for setting up of a National Road Safety Board under the central government. This board is supposed to advise governments of all the states in addition to the central government on matters of traffic management and road safety. 

Compensation For Victims Of Road Accidents

Provisions have been made for cashless treatment of victims of road accidents, during the golden hour. Golden hour is the time period up to one hour from the time of the accident. This is the time period in which the chances of survival if proper treatment is given, are maximum. An effort to make this whole process cashless is also made by this Act.

Protection Of Good Samaritan

This Act defines a Samaritan as a person who stands up for helping out a road accident victim immediately after such mishappening takes place. It is often seen that these generous people are the ones who end up being the victim of harassment for their acts of kindness. This Amendment provides for these people too. It ensures that they are not harmed in any manner whatsoever. It also protects them from any kind of civil or criminal proceedings, even in cases where they negligently cause the death of the victim. 

Compulsory Insurance

This Act instructs the union government to establish a Motor Vehicles Accident Fund providing compulsory insurance to all drivers of India.

Taxi Aggregators

These are defined by the Bill as the intermediaries using a digital platform for connecting drivers to passengers. These according to these new provisions, are to be provided with licenses from the governments of the respective states. Also, they are instructed to follow the rules and regulations of the Information And Technology Act, 2000.

National Transportation Policy 

This Act promotes the idea of the formation of a National Transportation Policy. This is to be made by the Central government in collaboration with the governments of all the states. This policy would structure a framework for road transport. In addition to this, priorities for the transport system would be specified. 

Training of drivers

This Amendment strengthens the process of driving training. This would lead to a faster issuance of licenses. This Amendment comes in the wake of a shortage of commercial drivers in the country. It propagates the opening up of more driver training institutes for ensuring the production of better commercial drivers in India.

National Register for Driving licence and Vehicle Registration

This Amendment puts forth harmonisation and integration of issuance of driving licence with vehicle registration. This would be done by the creation of a National Register for Driving Licence and National Register for Vehicles with the online portals of ‘Sarathi’ and ‘Vahan’. This process would ensure the creation of a uniform system of licences and vehicle registration throughout the country.