Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Sunday that the state is not going to implement the amended Motor Vehicles Act. The CM said that the State Government is not in a hurry to implement the new penalties. He went on to say that the state is going to come up with its own law on the subject. While responding to a question by AIMIM MLA in the legislative assembly, Rao said that the State Government is not going to harass people by imposing hefty fines.
The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill 2019 was passed in the Parliament on July 2019 and the amended Motor Vehicles Act came into force from September 2019. The new laws focus on tightening of traffic regulations and also imposes steep fines for the violation of traffic rules. The case of Telangana in not unique. Several states, which includes Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, have decided not to implement the new MV Act. On the other hand, some states, such as Gujrat have decided to implement the amendment by drastically reducing the amount for the fines.
The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, recently said that the states have the power to decide if they want to implement the new MV Act or not. He said that the provision for hefty fines in the amended Act have been included in order to improve conditions on Indian roads by making road users obey traffic rules and not to generate revenue.
States such as Delhi and Haryana, where the new MV Act has been implemented, cases of hefty fines being used to motorists for traffic violations have started to come to light almost on a daily basis. The fear of getting a challan has many rushing to get their vehicle’s papers in order. In Delhi, long cues were observed last week outside PUC centres.
