Lok Sabha passes Bill to amend MV Act, proposes stiffer penalties and jailterm for traffic offences
NEW DELHI: A Bill to amend the Motor Vehicles Act to impose stiffer penalties on traffic rules violations was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday. Apart from the high penalties for traffic offences, the bill proposes three-year jail term for parents of minors caught driving and causing fatal accidents, and a ten-fold increase in compensation for the families of accident victims and many other things.
The Bill amends the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 to address issues such as third party insurance, regulation of taxi aggregators, and road safety. The Bill provides for a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund which would provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India for certain types of accidents.
The Bill proposes offences committed by juveniles as under this the guardian or owner shall be deemed to be guilty in cases of offences by the juveniles and juvenile to be tried under JJ Act. Also, registration of Motor Vehicle will be cancelled.
The changes in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016, were approved by the Union cabinet on March 31. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha last August and was referred to a parliamentary standing committee, whose suggestions have been endorsed by the Union Cabinet.
Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill authorises the government to exempt or waive off any section to promote innovation. The provisions of the Bill talk about improved citizen centric services, reducing the number of accidents and several steps proposed to reduce the footfalls to regional transport offices (RTO). Moreover, to facilitate transport solutions for Divyang, the bottlenecks have been removed in respect of grant of driving licenses as well as alterations in the vehicles to make it fit for use of Divyang.
The Bill says that State governments will issue licenses to taxi aggregators as per central government guidelines. Currently, state governments determine guidelines for plying of taxis. There could be cases where state taxi guidelines are at variance with the central guidelines on aggregators.
The Bill also limits the maximum liability for third party insurance in case of a motor accident at Rs 10 lakh in case of death and at Rs 5 lakh in case of grievous injury. The Bill provides for a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund which would provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India for certain types of accidents.