The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (“Government”), through a notification dated 28^th January, 2020, has proposed changes to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 (“Principal Rules”) via the Draft Central Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Rules, 2020 (“Draft Rules”). Objections/suggestions have been invited till 27^th February, 2020.

The proposed Draft Rules seeks to change the following:

1. Exempt vehicles which are manufactured for the purposes of export, from the provisions relating to construction, equipment and maintenance of motor vehicles under the Principal Rules. Such exemptions will include movement of such vehicle by road from manufacturing plant to port of the export as well as any other location relevant for the purposes of facilitating such export, under the supervision of the vehicles manufacturer or dealer.

1. The driver or conductor of a motor vehicle must produce certificates of registration, insurance, fitness and permit, the driving licence, certificate for Pollution Under Check and any other relevant document in physical or electronic form, as available or downloaded from the DigiLocker application or mParivahan application, on demand by the authority. The Draft Rules further proposes that, if the documents so produced are found to be valid and in force, then physical forms of such documents cannot be demanded for inspection, including in cases where there is an offence made out necessitating seizure of any such document. Also, on demanding or inspecting any documents mentioned above, the date and time stamp of inspection and identity of the police officer in uniform or any other officer authorised by the State Government, shall be recorded on the Portal.

1. A new rule has been proposed which provides a list of events under which an Officer can seize the documents:

1. i)Driving a defective motor vehicle or trailer in any public place resulting in bodily injury or damage to property;
2. ii)Driving a motor vehicle which is in violation of standards specified with regard to road safety, pollution and noise;

iii)           Driving a motor vehicle which is in violation of rules relating to carriage of goods which are of dangerous or hazardous nature to human life;

1. iv)Owning or selling a registered motor vehicle wherein the certificate of registration has been obtained on the basis of false information or documentation;
2. v)Using a motor vehicle in contravention of provisions related to issuance of duplicate letter of authority or in contravention of any permit condition relating to a route on which the vehicle may be used;
3. vi)Driving of an uninsured motor vehicle or a motor vehicle whose insurance has expired.

1. In cases when seizure of any document produced in electronic form takes place, it will be made electronically on the Vahan Portal (http://parivahan.gov.in/vahan) and details of the seized documents will be recorded chronologically in the said portal and such record will be reflected on a regular basis on the portal. Further, for such seizure, the Officer will issue a receipt acknowledging such seizure, in physical or electronic form and the date and time stamp of seizure and identity of the Officer authorised will be recorded on the portal.

Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

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