Telangana won’t impose new traffic penalties: K Chandrasekhar Rao

HYDERABAD: Ending days of speculation, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday announced that the state will not implement the new Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019. “We have no intention to harass the citizens with hefty fines,” he added.
In simple words, the state will not impose the hefty fines prescribed by the MV (Amendment) Act, 2019, 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 the 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 has sullied the image of the Centre to some extent and we cannot risk the same.”
“The CM has announced this as part of giving clarity on all issues in the Assembly. If needed, we will make changes in the rules in our Act or frame a new law for enforcement of fines for vehicles in various categories,” he added.
Telangana can’t bring in own law, say officials
However, Telangana transport department officials said the state cannot bring in its own legislation, but could amend rules related to certain compoundable (traffic) offences. “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 the Telangana government was deliberating upon the quantum of penalties and studying the way other states were implementing the new MV (Amendment) Act. The officials also indicated that it might not be implemented right away. “Once CM cleared the air on the new MV Act, the recommendations to be made by the committee are immaterial,” Ajay said.
Ignoring the amendments made to the MV Act, the Telangana government had not notified the steep fines which came into force on September 1. Parliament had cleared the new MV (Amendment) Bill on July 31.
Interestingly, neighbouring state and BJP-ruled Karnataka had recently taken a decision to study the notification and reduce steep fines on the lines of Gujarat and other BJP-ruled states such as Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, traffic police in Greater Hyderabad were carrying out an awareness drive, educating people on the likely fines under the new MV Act.