The Maharashtra government doesn’t seem to be in any mood to implement the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, on the ground that penalties for some of the offences are “unreasonable”.
“We feel that the penalties for certain offences are way too high and should be reduced. A report on it will be ready by next week and sent to the road transport and highways ministry with a request to lower the penalties. Further decision by the state depends on the ministry’s reply,” transport minister Anil Parab told TOI
The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was approved by the Cabinet on June 24, 2019, for re-introduction in the Lok Sabha. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on July 23. Later, it was taken into consideration by the Rajya Sabha on July 31 and was passed the same day.
The new Motor Vehicles Act with stricter penalties for violation of traffic came into force Pan-India from September 1, 2019.
All this happened when Maharashtra was governed by the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, which too had refrained from implementing the amended stature in the state. “When I was the transport minister, I had sent a letter to the Union transport minister urging him to reconsider the quantum of the penalties. But there was no reply to the letter,” Diwakar Raote, Parab’s predecessor, told TOI .
A senior official in the transport department said the situation has not changed much even after Maharashtra got a new government. “These decisions are taken at the chief minister-level and we don’t have any clue. The amended Act has not been implemented in the state till now. The government has to issue a notification first,” the official said.
Sujit Patwardhan of NGO Parisar said, “The cost of living has gone up, but that hasn’t deterred people from spending. A bike or a scooter costs nothing less than 65,000 and the cost of fuel has gone up as well. But we don’t see people not buying two-wheelers or other vehicles.”
He added, “Then where is the problem if the quantum of the penalties is high? The lawmakers should realize that the amended Act would curb violation of the motor vehicle rules.”
Source: ET
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