Govt brings out new rules for tighter scrutiny of ride hailing apps

Tightening the noose on ride hailing app-based services including Ola and Uber, the Union government on Friday said that these aggregators would now be brought under the ambit of Centre’s framework in order to fix their accountability as a service provider.

The government has said that non-compliance with these norms would also invite penalties.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines 2020 in line with the requirements and provisions of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 and further as per the amended Section 93 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

The primary objective of these norms is to regulate shared mobility services, which would in turn reduce traffic congestion and pollution.

An official statement by the road ministry said, "The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 has been amended by the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019 to include the definition of the term ‘aggregator’. Prior to the amendment the regulation of Aggregator was not available."

 

The government hopes that this regulation will provide ease of doing business, customer safety and driver welfare. 

Under the guidelines, ride hailing services would require permission from the respective state governments to start operations and in order to regulate the aggregators the states are directed to follow the norms specified by the Centre.

“These guidelines seek to establish a regulatory framework for aggregators by state governments to ensure that the aggregators are accountable and responsible for the operations executed by them,” the official statement said.

The business shall also be considered a service provided by the aggregators to serve the larger public interest in terms of generation of employment, commutation facilities to the public which is cost effective and comfortable.

This definition would also enable the government to achieve its goal of ensuring maximization of using public transport, reduced fuel consumption consequently reducing the import bill, reduced vehicular pollution thereby reduced harm to human health. 

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Friday announced tweaking the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 to allow car owners to nominate a person in whose name the vehicle would be transferred in case of his/her death.

This would help the Motor Vehicle to be registered / transferred in the name of the nominee, in case of the death of the Owner of the Vehicle.  Otherwise the process is cumbersome and non-uniform across the Country, an official notification said.