Team Herald
PANJIM: Transport Department will hold a meeting to review the Central Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act to frame Rules for the State before its implementation.
Sources informed Herald that the Act’s enforcement in Goa may take maximum two months as the government will have to work on two important components – framing of rules and integrating the new Act with specific software.
As per the Act 2019 that contains 63 provisions dealing with penalties, licences, registration and the National Transport Policy, it was implemented from September 1. These are provisions which require no further amendments in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989, and enhanced penalty for unauthorised use of vehicles without licence to Rs 5,000 from Rs 1,000. The penalty for driving without licence has gone up to Rs 5,000.
Moreover, there is also an increase in fine for drunken driving to imprisonment upto six months and/or fine upto Rs 10,000 for the first offence, and imprisonment up to two years and/or fine of Rs 15,000 for the second offence. Fines for other violations have also been increased. However, considering many aspects in the small State, the Transport Department’s committee will soon meet to review the compounding of the offences.
“The compounding is different in the other States. We have to look into two components, one which is framing of the rules band and second is incorporating the new system with the software. The committee will discuss all this in the coming days. It should take one to two months to implement the Act in Goa,” an officer explained.
While there is no opposition to implementation of the Act in Goa, States such as Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal had refused to go ahead with the stricter Act, citing differences in the amount of penalty of traffic offences. Rajasthan has decided to review the penalty amount.
