Parliament to take up Motor Vehicle Act Amendment Bill: All you need to know

A bill that will likely help India reduce road accidents by up to 50 percent in the next 3 years is in the offing. The Rajya Sabha is likely pass the Motor Vehicle Act (Amendment) Bill 2017 during the course of the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.

If passed, the bill will radically change the course of punishments and fines to be paid for various traffic related offenses, along with a ten-fold increase in the compensation for families and minors.

The Lok Sabha had already passed the Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill in April.

Parliament's Monsoon Session: Here's What You Can Expect

PRS Legislative Research, an Indian non-profit organisation also tweeted about the bill's listing for today's session.

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill listed for debate in Rajya Sabha today

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— PRS Legislative (@PRSLegislative) July 18, 2017

Let's look at the important features of the Motor Vehicle Act (Amendment) Bill 2017:

—  Aadhaar will become mandatory for driving licence and vehicle registration.

— For deaths in hit-and-run cases, the government will provide a compensation of Rs 2 lakh or more to the victim's family. Currently, the amount is just Rs 25,000.

— In traffic violations by juveniles, the guardian or owner of the vehicle would be held responsible unless they prove the offense was committed without their knowledge or they tried to prevent it. The registration of the motor vehicle in question will be cancelled. The juvenile will be tried under the Juvenile Justice Act.

— No civil and criminal liability on those coming forward to help accident.

— Minimum penalty for drunk driving will increase from Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000.

— The fine for rash driving will shoot up to Rs 5,000 from Rs 1,000.

— Driving without a licence attract a penalty of up to Rs 5,000 against the present Rs 500.

— The fine for over-speeding will increase to Rs 1,000-2,000.

— Not wearing seat-belt will attract a fine of Rs 1,000 against Rs 100 at present.

— A Motor Vehicle Accident Fund will provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India for certain types of accidents.

— It will be mandatory to alter vehicles for specially-abled people.

— Contractors, consultants, and civic agencies would be charged for faulty design, construction or poor maintenance of roads leading to accidents.

— A time limit of six months has been specified for an application of compensation to the Claims Tribunal with regard to road accidents.

— The Bill removes the cap on liability for third-party insurance. The 2016 Bill had held the maximum liability at Rs 10 lakh in case of death and Rs 5 lakh in case of grievous injury.