The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016 has been passed by the Lok Sabha to reduce number of accidents, improve road safety, and control pollution. The bill amends the existing Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which sets legal standards for motor vehicles, issuing of driving licences, and amount of penalties to be charged for violation of set standards.
Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016: Key Facts
- A National Transportation Policy must be framed by the Union government in consultation with the states.
- The bill empowers the Union government to recall motor vehicles if a flaws in the vehicle can lead to environment damage, harms safety of driver, or other road users.
- Under the amended bill it is compulsory for the Union government to establish Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVAF) for providing mandatory insurance cover to all Indian road users. Also, it is mentioned that MVAF will be credited to users with tax as approved by the Union government, loan or grant made by the Union government, or any other source set by Union government.
- The bill has proposed increased compensation for death victims. The compensation for people losing their life in a hit and run case has been increased to Rs 2 lakhs or more, from the existing compensation of Rs. 25,000, as set by the Union government.
- The Union government is required to develop a scheme that offers cashless treatment for victims of road accident during golden hour, the time duration of up to an hour succeeding a traumatic injury, during which the chances of stopping death by providing prompt medical care is the highest.
- The amended bill also defines a good samaritan as a person who provides voluntary emergency medical or non-medical support to a road accident victim at the accident spot in good faith, without the expecting any reward. It also mentions that good samaritans will not be held responsible for any civil or criminal action for victim’s death or any injury caused.
- Union government may also come up with some rules to change the procedures for questioning good samaritans or regarding disclosure of good Samaritans’ personal information.
- The bill makes it mandatory for aggregator services to obtain licences and also to comply fully with the Indian Information Technology Act (IT), 2000.
- The amended bill also mentions computerization of some services with an aim to enhance delivery of services to the e-Governance-using stakeholders.
The bill enables online learning licences, increases validity period of driving licences, and also proposes an Aadhar-based verification for grant of these online services such as learning licence, in order to end making of duplicate licences. - The bill has also increased penalties for violations of set rules, under the parent Act for high risk violations, which includes dangerous driving, drunken driving, overloading, and non-adherence to government-defined safety norms.
- It also mentions that guardian or owners will be considered guilty in cases of offenses committed by Juveniles. Juvenile will be punished and their motor vehicle registration will be cancelled.
