Fines exceed scooter cost,says rider after Rs 23k shock

Rs 23k shock

A couple of days after the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act — which prescribes steep fines for traffic violations — was implemented, a two-wheeler rider was fined a whopping Rs 23,000 by the Gurugram police for traffic violations.

The shocked rider pleaded for more time to produce the documents which he said were at home, to avoid some part of the fine.

That plea apparently didn’t work and Dinesh Madan, a resident of Geeta Colony in New Delhi, was handed over a challan slip of Rs 23,000. The enhanced fines for traffic violations came into force on September 1. The police said Madan was stopped outside the Gurugram court complex and was fined for various traffic violations in keeping with the new rates listed out in the new amendments in the act.

Madan was fined Rs 5,000 for not having a driving licence, Rs 10,000 for violating air pollution standards, Rs 5,000 for riding without a registration certificate, Rs 2,000 for not having third-party insurance and another Rs 1,000 for riding without a helmet.

Madan said his Scooty does not cost half the amount of fine he has been asked to pay. Madan claims the Gurugram traffic police gave him just 10 minutes to bring the vehicle documents from home which was not possible given the distance between his house in Delhi and Gurugram in Haryana. The two-wheeler was impounded by the police.

President Ram Nath Kovind had accorded his consent to the new amendments last month. The move by the Modi government drew applause from various quarters and was viewed as a major deterrence to rising traffic violations.

Neighbouring Punjab meanwhile has decided against implementing the provisions of the new act. The government said it will take the consent of all stakeholders before implementing the new law. The government asserts that the motive should be to deter people from violating traffic rules and not to fill coffers by fining people heavily.