THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cabinet has given its nod to reduce most of the fines for traffic offences that were steeply hiked by the Centre under the Motor Vehicles Act recently. However, the fine for drink-driving will remain at Rs 10,000.
The fine for not wearing helmet and seat-belt has been halved from Rs 1,000 to Rs 500. The fine for using mobile phone while driving will be Rs 2,000. For over-speeding, the fine would be Rs 1,500 in the first instance and Rs 3,000 for repeat offences. In a major relief to freight carriers, the fine for overloading has been reduced from Rs 20,000 to Rs 10,000.
The cabinet decision to reduce the fines stipulated under Motor Vehicle (Amendment), 2019 has ended confusion regarding the implementation of law that became effective from September 1.
Recently the Motor Vehicle Department issued a circular relaxing the fine for license renewal if the application is made within a year after date of expiry of license.
Though the new motor vehicle rules became effective from September 1, the state chose to wait for clarification on the provisions from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
The state had initially supported heavy fines but took a U-turn sensing public backlash.