New Motor Vehicle legislation decoded: Stick to traffic rules or pay hefty fines

 The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill 2016. The Bill amends the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 to address issues such as third party insurance, regulation of taxi aggregators, and road safety. The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill 2016. The Bill amends the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 to address issues such as third party insurance, regulation of taxi aggregators, and road safety. The Bill was presented in the Lok Sabha on April 7. As a signatory to the Brasilia Declaration, India has to reduce road accidents and traffic fatalities by 50 percent by 2020 Under the Act, the liability of the third party insurer for motor vehicle accidents is unlimited.  The Bill caps the maximum liability for third party insurance in case of a motor accident at Rs 10 lakh in case of death and at five lakh rupees in case of grievous injury.PRS India Legislative under the Act, the liability of the third party insurer for motor vehicle accidents is unlimited. The Bill caps the maximum liability for third party insurance in case of a motor accident at Rs 10 lakh in case of death and at Rs 5 lakh in case of a grievous injury The Bill provides for a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund which would provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India for certain types of accidents.

The Bill defines taxi aggregators, guidelines for which will be determined by the central government. The Bill also provides for: (i) amending the existing categories of driver licensing, (ii) recall of vehicles in case of defects, (iii) protection of good samaritans from any civil or criminal action, and (iv) increase of penalties for several offences under the 1988 Act. The Bill caps the maximum liability for third party insurance, but does not cap the compensation amount that courts can award.  In cases where courts award compensation higher than the maximum liability amount, it is unclear who will pay the remaining amount. Improving delivery of services to the stakeholders using e-Governance is one of the major focuses of this Bill.This includes enabling online learning licences, increasing validity period for driving licences, doing away with the requirements of educational qualifications for transport licenses are some of the features.

Under the Act, compensation for hit-and-run victims comes from a Solatium Fund.  The Bill creates a new Motor Vehicle Accident Fund in addition. With a Fund already existing to provide compensation for hit-and-run accidents, the purpose of the new Accident Fund is unclear. State governments will issue licenses to taxi aggregators as per central government guidelines. Currently, state governments determine guidelines for plying of taxis.  There could be cases where state taxi guidelines are at variance with the central guidelines on aggregators. The process for testing and certification for automobiles is proposed to be regulated more effectively.  The testing agencies issuing automobile approvals have been brought under the ambit of the Act. To bring harmony of the registration and licensing process, it is proposed to create National Register for Driving and National Register for Vehicle registration through “ platforms. This will facilitate uniformity of the process across the country. To facilitate transport solutions the bottlenecks have been removed in respect of grant of driving licenses as well as alterations in the vehicles to make it fit for use 

 Read more for Indian Stock Tips- http://bit.ly/ace_services