Rajya Sabha passes Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed by Rajya Sabha yesterday. Speaking on the occasion, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways and MSME thanked the Members of the House and said that this was a matter of great happiness for him. He said the much needed amendments will improve road safety, facilitate citizens in their dealings with transport departments, strengthen rural transport, public transport and last mile connectivity through automation, computerization and online services. The Minister reiterated that the Bill would, in no way, encroach upon the powers and authorities of the states. He said the Bill would rather empower the states. He added that the Bill will provide an efficient, safe and corruption free transport system in the country.

The Bill has been passed with three Government amendments and will need to go back to Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha had already passed the Bill on the 23rd of July 2019. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019 is based on the recommendations of the Group of Transport Ministers (GoM) of States constituted by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways to address the issue of road safety and to improve the facilitation of the citizens while dealing with transport departments. The GoM was headed by Shri. Yoonus Khan, the then Transport Minister of Rajasthan, and had 18 State Transport Ministers from different political parties as members. On the basis of recommendations of the GoM and other pressing requirements, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways introduced the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill 2016. This, along with amendments, was passed by Lok Sabha on 10th April, 2017. The Bill as passed by Lok Sabha was introduced in Rajya Sabha and was referred to the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha on 08.08.2017.

The amendments in the Bill mainly focus on issues relating to improving road safety, citizens' facilitation while dealing with the transport department, strengthening rural transport, last mile connectivity and public transport, automation and computerization and enabling online services. In the area of road safety, the Bill proposes to increase penalties to act as deterrent against traffic violations. Stricter provisions are being proposed in respect of offences like juvenile driving, drunken driving, driving without licence, dangerous driving, over-speeding, overloading etc. Stricter provisions for helmets have been introduced along with provisions for electronic detection of violations. Penalty regarding motor vehicles is to be increased by 10 % every year..

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