The Motor Vehicle Act

What is motor Vehicle?

A motor vehicle has various names such as automotive vehicle or motorized vehicle and it is a self propelled vehicle, usually wheeled, and that doesn’t operate on rail ( such as trains or trams or 4-wheelers) and is used for the transportation of people or goods.

Vehicles propulsion is provided by an engine or motor, usually an internal combustion engine or an electric motor, or some of combination of both kinds, such as hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in-hybrids. For the legal purposes, motor vehicle are often identified within a number of vehicle classes inclunding buses, cars, motorcycles, off road vehicles, light trucks and regular trucks. All these classifications vary on the basis or according to the legal codes/numbers of each country.

Motor vehicle Act, 1988

The motor vehicle act is an act of the Parliament of India which regulates all aspects of road transport vehicles.

The Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 came in force from 1st July 1989 and this was the replacement of Motor Vehicle Act 1939 which earlier replaced the first such enactment Motor Vehicles Act, 2014. In July 2019 The Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill was passed in the parliament. The act came into effect from 1^st September 2019 in all part of India inclunding Jammu and Kashmir.

The Act gives detailed legislative provisions related to licensing of drivers, conductors, registrations of motor vehicles, control of motor vehicles through permits, special provisions regarding state transports undertakings, traffic regulation, insurance, liability, offences and penalties etc.

Motor Vehicle (Amendment) bill 2019

The main motive of the bill

To improve road safety and helping citizens in their dealings with transport departments. Also to control the road accidents and save lives of people, the following amendment has been made. This amendment aims to strengthen rural transport, public transport, and last-mile connectivity through automation, computerization and digital services.

Salient features of the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill 2019

1. This amendment bill amends the old Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 to tackle with issues like regulation of taxi aggregators, third party insurance and road safety.
2. In case of a vehicle accident at Rs. 10 Lakh in case of death and Rs. 5 Lakh in case of grievous injury it seeks maximum accountability for third party insurance.
3. Guidelines of cabs that will be finalized by the central government are also defined in this bill.
4. It has promoted the digitalisation of some particular services such as issue of licenses or permits, application filing procedure, receipt of money (such as fine, challans ), and change of address.
5. It also gives authority to state government to ensure the electronic monitoring and enforcement of road safety on national highways, state highways and urban roads.
6. In case of motor vehicle accidents it also modifies the compensation and insurance provisions.

So to control the road accidents and to save lives of people this amendment has been made in penalty clause. In case of traffic violation such as Drunken drive, over speeding, driving without license, not wearing belt while driving, over loading, driving without insurance etc. will be penalties strictly and in few cases license will be disqualified too.