Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has recently issued notifications regarding various amendments in Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989 requiring implementation of enforcement, Maintenance of Vehicular Documents and E-Challans through portal w.e.f 1.10.2020 for better monitoring and enforcement of MV Rules

Use of IT services and electronic monitoring will result in better enforcement of Traffic Rules in the country and will lead to removing harassment of drivers and would facilitate the citizen.

This was required after Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019 was passed and was published on 9th August, 2019. 

Accordingly, the rules for amendment to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 for certain provisions of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019  were published through GSR 584 (E)  dated 25 September 2020. The  amendment inter-alia provides for the definition for Challan, Portal inserted as requirement for  providing the services through IT and further the enforcement of electronic monitoring and enforcement. 

Details of driving licences disqualified or revoked by the licensing authority shall be recorded chronologically in the portal and such record shall be reflected on a regular basis on the portal has been provided for.  Thus the record shall be maintained electronically and further the driver behavior would be monitored. 

Provisions have been made for the  procedure for Production and Obtaining Certificates in physical as well as electronic form, the validity, issuance of such documents and further the date and time stamping of inspection and identity of the Officer to be recorded.  It has been provided that if the details of the documents are found validated through the electronic means by the enforcement officer then physical forms of such documents shall not be demanded for inspection, including in cases where there is an offence made out necessitating seizure of any such documents.

Further upon demanding or inspecting any documents, the date and time stamp of inspection and identity of the police officer in uniform or any other officer authorized by the State Government, shall be recorded on the Portal. This would help in unnecessary re-checking or inspection of vehicles and further would remove harassment to the drivers. 

It has been provided that the use of handheld communications devices while driving shall solely be used for route navigation in such a manner that shall not disturb the concentration of the driver while driving.

Further through notification GSR 586  (E) dated 25 September 2020 certain amendments in the Motor Vehicles (Driving) Regulations 2017 have been made to align to the Amendment in the Act and the CMVR 1989 like use of handheld device, inspection of documents in electronic form etc.

The S.O. (E) 3311 dated  25; Sep 2020 notification provides for enforcing certain provision of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019 w.e.f. 1st Oct 2020 for which the aforesaid rules are being published.

The S.O. (E) 3310 dated  25 September 2020 provides for the conditions for the State Government to consider for specifying a multiplier to the amount of the penalties

The S.O. (E) dated 25 Sept 2020 provides for the order that the penalties for violation of The Motor Vehicles (Driving) Regulations, 2017 shall be in accordance with Section 177A to the extent that the penalties for such violations are not specifically provided for otherwise under the Act.

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RCJ/MS