Several Indian States Come Out in Protest Against New Motor Vehicles Act

The new MV Act amendment, which was passed by the parliament earlier this year and was implemented in the Indian market on 1st September has seen divided views of the state. West Bengal government earlier announced that they will not implement the new traffic rules because the fines are too high and it will cause a rise in corruption. After the West Bengal government officially announced their stand on the new MV Act, the government of Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and even Gujarat have joined the clan and have not implemented the new MV Act.

According to the Gujarat Government, they have asked the Regional Transport Officer to submit a report on the increased fines. The government will then review the report and will implement the new fines. There are no clear timelines on how many weeks or months it may take. Also, it is not known if the government will partially implement the new rule or will continue to use the previous rules until the report comes in. Even the Madhya Pradesh Government has appointed a new committee and has asked them to prepare a report on the new rules before it can be implemented officially. The government of Madhya Pradesh has also not made it clear if the new amended rules will be implemented without any changes or they will be modified before getting implemented in the state.

Rajasthan state government has also opposed the new rules and will not implement it anytime soon. The Rajasthan Transport Minister told CNN over a call that such a steep increase in fines will impact the regular commuter way too much and it is not feasible for the government to implement the new act. Even Punjab has opposed to the new rules and has said that the fines are extremely steep.

The state governments have said that such a steep rise in fines will increase the corruption and the cops will now ask for more bribes to let off the motorists who are doing illegal activities on the public roads. This, in turn, will cause harassment to the commuters.

It should be noted that the new fines have been put in place to ensure that motorists strictly follow the rules. Currently, the Indian roads see a high number of accidents every year and many of these accidents turn out to be fatal. In fact, Indian roads are one of the most dangerous roads in the world.

The minimum fines for offences have been increased to Rs 1,000 while for serious offences like drunk driving and obstructing emergency vehicles on the roads, the fine is now Rs 10,000. The fines can be increased by 10 per cent every year.

Meanwhile, other states including the National Capital, Delhi now has implemented new rules. From 1st September, Delhi Traffic Police issued court challan for most kinds of offences. In many offences, commuters need to pay the fine online. There is no need to pay the on-spot fines after the new MV Act has been put in place.