Motor Vehicle Act: 63 clause to be enforced from Sept 1

The Centre on Wednesday said 63 clauses of Motor Vehicle Act, which include higher penalties for traffic violators will be implemented from September 1.

“All the 63 clauses of the bill have been sent to the Law Ministry for vetting. We expect that the Law Ministry will return after going through it,” Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters here.

The clauses including penalties, licenses, registration and national transport policy, do not require the rules to be framed. So the government will implement these in the first phase. For remaining clauses, the rules have to be framed, the Minister said.

He added that rules were being framed and will be notified in due course of time.

The Act approved by the Parliament imposes higher fines for all traffic rules violations including drunken driving and over speeding.

The Act has a clause of imposing a penalty on project proponent and contractor for faulty road design. The minister said road engineering was one of the main reasons for accidents in the country. He said road ministry had allocated Rs 14,000 crore to identify accident blackspots and plug gaps in highways to reduce casualties.

He added that Fastag will be mandatory from December for all vehicles. So far 52.50 lakh FASTags have been issued. FASTag is available in select banks and toll plazas of National Highways, he said.

FASTag is a reloadable tag which enables automatic deduction of toll charges and lets vehicles pass through the toll plaza without stopping for the cash transaction.