K'taka govt order on 100cc bike: SIAM seeks amendments

Auto industry body SIAM today said it has written to the Karnataka government to make amendments to the act prohibiting registration of two-wheelers with less than 100 cc engine capacity with a pillion seat.
"This is the first time in the country that such a ban has been imposed. There are no such provisions in the Central Motor Vehicles Act either," Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) Deputy Director General Sugato Sen said in a statement.
There are several popular models of motorcycles that are just below 100 cc with many of them being of 99 cc power, he added.

Therefore, SIAM has approached the state government seeking a revision of this provision of the motor vehicles rules, Sen said.
The Karnataka government has banned riding pillion on two-wheelers with an engine capacity of less than 100 cc, giving effect to a 2015 court order.
The transport department also banned registration of such vehicles.
The order was issued based on a Karnataka High Court order in a case relating to the award of compensation to Hemanth, a minor riding pillion who was crippled for life following a road accident in Mysuru in March 2009.
There should not be any seat for pillion rider in vehicles below 100 CC as mandated under Rule 143(3) of the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Rules - 1989, the court had said.