President gives assent to Motor Vehicles Bill

New Delhi, Aug 9 : President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday gave assent to the the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which will tighten road traffic regulations such as issuance of driving licence and impose stricter penalties for violations in an attempt to improve road safety. Earlier this week, Parliament had given nod to the legislation.

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019, received the assent of the President on August 9, 2019, an official notification said. On July 31, the Rajya Sabha cleared the bill that seeks to weed out corruption, improve road safety and usher in use of technology to regulate traffic, with certain amendments.

Since some changes were made by the Rajya Sabha, it was again brought to the Lok Sabha for clearance. It was finally cleared by Parliament on August 5. Under the law, Rs 10,000 fine would be levied for not giving way to emergency vehicles and for driving despite disqualification. Aggregators violating driving licence norms will be fined up to Rs 1 lakh.

The bill includes penalties in the range of Rs 1,000- 2,000 for over-speeding. Driving without insurance will be punishable with Rs 2,000 fine, while driving without helmets will attract Rs 1,000 penalty and three-month suspension of licence. Also, the guardian/owner will be deemed guilty in case of road offence by juveniles, while registration of the vehicle will be cancelled.

As per the new provisions, "guardian/owner shall be deemed to be guilty and there will be a penalty of Rs 25,000 with three years imprisonment and cancellation of registration of the Motor Vehicle". Traffic violations would now attract a penalty of Rs 500 in place of Rs 100 earlier, while disobedience of orders of authorities will attract a minimum penalty of Rs 2,000 in place of Rs 500 earlier.

Penalty for unauthorised use of vehicles without licence has been proposed at Rs 5,000 while those driving without licence will have to shell out the same amount and those found driving despite disqualification would be fined Rs 10,000. Penalty for dangerous driving would be increased to Rs 5,000 from Rs 1,000, while drunken driving under the proposed new law would attract a fine of Rs 10,000.