The centre government is getting ready to get in a tussle with the Gujarat government over the newly amended Motor Vehicles (MV) Amendment Act, 2019, which charges harsher penalties for road traffic violations. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways have decided to think upon the Law Ministry’s opinion on whether State governments can temper with the lower limit for fines prescribed in the recently implemented law after Gujarat slashed the amount of some of the fines.
In its recent notification, it was found that Gujarat imposed fines that were below the lower threshold as mentioned in the newly altered motor vehicles act and on top of that they also altered these fines will is not permitted to tempered with under the new law. Road transport is subjected to the Concurrent List and, therefore, both Centre and States are allowed to enact on this particular subject.
The Gujarat government charges a penalty of â‚ą500 for not wearing a seatbelt but the Centre has agreed on an amount of â‚ą1,000 as the penalty, without providing a minimum or maximum limit. On the penalty associated with bike riders, Gujarat says lawbreakers will only be charged a fine of â‚ą100 if there is more than one pillion rider, but the Centre asks for a fine of â‚ą1,000 on the person driving the bike without a helmet along with disqualification of license for three months for violating these laws.
“The Constitution is clear on what happens when there is a dispute between a State and the Centre regarding a subject on the Concurrent List,” a senior official of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said.
