Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019 Comes into Effect from September 1

• Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019 comes with strict punishments.
• It levies hefty penalty and even imprisonment for juvenile offenders.
• Enforcing authorities to be charged twice the fine if found guilty.

Ministry of Road, Transport & Highways (MORTH), Union Government of India notified the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019, which came into effect from September 1. The revised act levies hefty penalties on both the first time and repeat offenders for violation of traffic rules. The monetary penalties have been increased by two-fold or even ten-folds in a few instances. Besides, this the 2019 Amendment Act has introduced several new offences for the breach of rules.

First and foremost, driving a vehicle without a valid license will now cost a fine of Rs 5000 as likened to the previous penalty of Rs 500. Also, if the cops catch an individual driving a vehicle under suspension, then a fine of Rs 10,000 will be imposed as compared to the earlier penalty of Rs 500. Also, permitting unauthorized persons to drive the vehicle will levy a hefty penalty of Rs 5000 while it was merely Rs 1000 earlier. Reckless driving and driving under the influence of alcohol have been given special attention in the 2019 Amendment Act. The former will attract a fine of Rs 5000 for the first time with repeaters being fined at Rs 10000 while the latter will be punishable with a penalty of Rs 10,000 for the first time and Rs 15,000 for the second time.

The Act has also introduced enhanced penalties for several other offences such as travel without tickets, refusal to supply information, disobeying authorities, etc. In addition, the Government has made the Act extremely strict for juvenile offenders as they will now be charged under the Juvenile Protection Act. The parents or guardian, assumed to give permission to juvenile for driving, will be punished with imprisonment for up to three months and a fine of Rs 25000. Furthermore, due to the introduction of Section 199A, the registration certificate of the vehicle will remain suspended for the duration of one year. Interestingly, due to the newly added Section 210B, if the enforcing authorities are found to be committing the same motor vehicle offences, then they will be charged twice the fine of that offense under the Act. Please find the table below with enhanced fines: