Explore Business Standard
Motor Vehicle Act
Motor vehicle tax is compensatory in nature and if a vehicle is not used or not kept for use in a 'public place', then its owner should not be burdened with motor vehicle tax for such period, the Supreme Court has said. A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan delivered its verdict on an appeal challenging a December 2024 judgement of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. "Motor vehicle tax is compensatory in nature. It has a direct nexus with the end use. The rationale for levy of motor vehicle tax is that a person who is using public infrastructure, such as, roads, highways etc. has to pay for such usage," the apex court said. Referring to section 3 of The Andhra Pradesh Motor Vehicle Taxation Act, 1963, the bench said the legislature has consciously used the expression 'public place' in this provision. Section 3 of the Act deals with levy of tax on motor vehicles. "If a motor vehicle is not used in a 'public place' or not kept for use in a 'public place' then the person concer
Mumbai police has decided to register criminal cases against those indulging in drunk driving since such incidents have seen a sharp rise in the last couple of years, a senior official said on Thursday. A notification to this effect was issued by Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Anil Kumbhare, he said. While registering cases, the licence of the drunk driver will be impounded and his vehicle will be seized, the official added. "Taking serious cognizance of rise in cases, the traffic wing of Mumbai Police has decided to file criminal cases against drunk drivers under section 125 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for act endangering life or personal safety of others apart from provisions of Motor Vehicles Act at the local police station," Kumbhare told PTI. At present, Mumbai police carries out 'nakabandi' (on road checks) against drunk drivers and penalises them under section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, another official said, adding action was taken against 2562 persons in 2023 ..
Authorities' crackdown on air pollution has hit violators hard in the city, with over Rs 260 crore in fines imposed on more than 2.6 lakh vehicles lacking Pollution Under Control Certificates (PUCC) in just 50 days. The crackdown was implemented under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Between October 16 and December 6, the Environment Department issued 260,258 challans across all four stages of GRAP. Breaking down the time period and stages, a total of 12,756 challans were imposed in Stage 1 from October 16 to October 22, 111,235 in Stage 2 between October 22 and November 14, 13,938 in Stage 3 from November 15 to November 17, and 114,089 in Stage 4 from November 18 to December 5. Meanwhile, 8,240 challans were issued in Stage 2 after Stage 4 restrictions were lifted on Thursday, with Stage 2 restrictions remaining in effect, according to official data. A fine of Rs 10,000 is imposed on motorists for not having a valid pollution under control (PUC) certificate. Delhi's air .
All government and semi-government bodies will have to scrap their vehicles older than 15 years by the end of January, an official said on Thursday. These include local self-government and public transport bodies, he added. As per a Government Resolution (GR) issued on Tuesday, these old vehicles will have to be scrapped only through registered vehicle scrapping facilities before January 31, 2025. The GR cited Motor Vehicle Development's records to inform that the number of such vehicles stands at 13,000. There are currently six vehicle scrapping facilities in the state, comprising three in Pune, two in Nagpur and one in Jalna, Maharashtra transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar told PTI. After scrapping government vehicles older than 15 years, concerned departments can buy or hire new vehicles as per set guidelines. A Union government letter dated August 9 this year laid down that vehicles older than 15 years belonging to government, semi-government, local self-government and ...
The Centre has ordered district officials to crack down on manufacturers and sellers of non-ISI certified helmets, following concerns over road safety and substandard protective gear flooding the market. The government has cancelled or allowed to expire 162 helmet manufacturing licences to date, while authorities have conducted 27 raids targeting violations of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) regulations, the consumer affairs ministry said on Saturday. "Helmets save lives, but only if they are of good quality," Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare said. "This initiative is crucial in removing unsafe helmets from the market." The crackdown comes after the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways implemented a Quality Control Order in June 2021, making BIS certification mandatory for all helmets under standard IS 4151:2015. The officials have particularly targeted roadside vendors selling uncertified helmets, which have been linked to motorcycle accident fatalities. Consumers can ..
The Delhi government will notify its 'Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregator and Delivery Service Provider Scheme 2023' on Wednesday, said Delhi Transport minister Kailash Gahlot. The scheme stipulates all passenger, service delivery, and e-commerce aggregator platforms' vehicles to be electric vehicles after 2030. The minister said all existing and new aggregators will need to have a licence within 90 days of publication of the scheme's notification. The scheme will be notified later in the day, he said in a press conference. The minister said the Kejriwal government is the sole one in the country to have brought a scheme that introduces electric vehicles at such a large scale to combat pollution. Gahlot said that as of now the government has not dealt with the issue of "surge pricing" imposed by the app-based cab aggregators but if complaints are received from the people, rules will be framed.
The Transport department has cautioned bike taxis against plying on the roads of Delhi, warning that it was a violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, that would make aggregators liable for a fine of Rs 1 lakh. The use of two-wheelers for commercial purposes is in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The first offence could lead to a fine of Rs 5,000 while a second offence could incur a Rs 10,000 fine and imprisonment of up to a year, the department said in a public notice. The driver will also lose their licence for three months under the circumstances. The notice said some app-based companies are portraying themselves as aggregators in violation of the 1988 act. This will be punishable with a fine of Rs 1 lakh. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court refused to grant relief to bike taxi aggregator Rapido against the Maharashtra government's refusal to grant licence to it. It had noted that amendments made to the Motor Vehicles Act in 2019 made it clear that aggregators can
The Odisha State Transport Authority (STA) has suspended more than 12,000 driving licences and collected over Rs 60 lakh as fine during a two-week special drive against helmetless riders on the highways of the state, STA official said on Friday. A total of 888 vehicles have been seized for driving without licence and 24,474 e-challans were issued in the drive against riding two-wheelers without wearing helmets on national and state highways from August 16-30, the STA said on Friday. Helmetless driving is a major cause of road accidents and grievous injury across Odisha, the official said. Last year 1,308 riders and pillion riders were killed in road accidents and most of them were not wearing helmets. A total of 1,280 people were seriously injured and 747 had minor injuries in accidents involving two-wheelers during the period, according to a STA release. "The enforcement team of the STA collected Rs 63.98 lac as fine and 12,545 licences have been suspended for riding the ...