After West Bengal, Telangana won’t implement new Motor Vehicles Act

HYDERABAD: Four days after his West Bengal counterpart said no to the implementation of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday announced in the Assembly that his state too would not implement the new Act, which has increased penalties in traffic offences many fold. Several other states have either reduced the fines provided in the new Act, or delayed implementation of the same while studying its provisions.
“We have no intention to harass citizens with hefty fines,” he said, virtually junking the new Act, which came into force on September 1.
Addressing the Assembly, the CM said: “We will not implement the new MV Act brought in by the Centre. We will bring in our own law. We are not in a hurry to implement the new traffic rules. We have no intention to penalise people with heavy fines.”
Later, speaking to TOI, transport minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar said, “The chief minister is of the view that heavy fine component (of the new Act) has sullied the image of the Centre to some extent and we cannot risk the same.”
However, Telangana transport department officials said the state couldn’t bring in its own legislation, but could amend rules. “We can get state amendments and change a few rules, but we can’t put in place a new MV Act altogether,” a transport official said.
The TRS regime had earlier formed a committee to study the heavy fines prescribed by the MV Act, 2019.
Transport officials had recently stated that the Telangana government was deliberating upon the quantum of penalties and other modalities, and the way other states were implementing the new MV (Amendment) Act.
“Once KCR cleared the air on the new MV Act, the recommendations to be made by the committee are immaterial,” the official said.
Neighbouring state and BJP-ruled Karnataka had recently taken a decision to study the September 1 notification and reduce steep fines on traffic offenders on the lines of Gujarat.