The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 The Act came into force from 1 July 1989. It replaced Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 which earlier replaced the first such enactment Motor Vehicles Act, 1914. The act is amended by The

Motor Vehicles (Amendment) act, 2019 The Motor Vehicles Act is an Act of the Parliament of India which regulates all aspects of road transport vehicles. The Act provides in detail the legislative provisions regarding licensing of drivers/conductors, registration of motor vehicle ...

. The Act provides in detail the legislative provisions regarding licensing of drivers/conductors, registration of motor vehicles, control of motor vehicles through permits, special provisions relating to state transport undertakings, traffic regulation,

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

, liability, offences and penalties, etc. For exercising the legislative provisions of the Act, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

made the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989.

Definitions

Some of the definitions from the act are given below: *Motor vehicle: Any mechanically propelled

vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wa ...

adapted for use upon roads whether the power of

propulsion Propulsion is the generation of force by any combination of pushing or pulling to modify the translational motion of an object, which is typically a rigid body (or an articulated rigid body) but may also concern a fluid. The term is derived from ...

is transmitted from an external or internal source of power. The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, like the earlier Act of 1939, makes the insurance of motor vehicles compulsory. The owner of every motor vehicle is bound to insure his vehicle against third party risk. The insurance company, i.e, the insurer covers risk of loss to the third party by the use of the motor vehicle.

Accident claims

There is a provision to provide with no upper limit, as interim relief to the family of a victim of fatal accidents. The cases of road accident compensation claims are decided in the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal.

Previous laws

The "Indian Motor Vehicles Act, 1914" was a central legislation passed and applicable in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Some

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

s followed suit, with local modifications. Motor vehicles were first introduced in India towards the end of the 19th century, and the 1914 Act was the first legislation to regulate their use. It had 18 sections, and gave local governments the responsibility of registering and licensing vehicles and motorists, and enforcing regulations. It was replaced by the ''Motor Vehicles Act, 1939'', which came into force in 1940.

Amendments

Indian Motor Vehicles Acts, from 1914-2016

The "Indian Motor Vehicles Act, 1914" was amended by the "Indian Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 1920" (Act No. XXVII of 1920) passed by the

Imperial Legislative Council The Imperial Legislative Council (ILC) was the legislature of the British Raj from 1861 to 1947. It was established under the Charter Act of 1853 by providing for the addition of 6 additional members to the Governor General Council for legislativ ...

. It received assent from the

Governor General of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

on 2 September 1920. The Act amended sections 11 and 18 of the 1914 Act. The Act was amended again by the "Indian Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 1924" (Act No. XV of 1924). The Act received assent from the Governor General on 18 September 1924. It had the title, "An Act further to amend the Indian Motor Vehicles Act, 1914, for certain purposes" and amended section 11 of the 1914 Act by inserting the words "and the duration for which" after the words "area in which" in clause (a) of subsection (2) of section 11. The motor vehicle act has again been amended in 2016.

Indian Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2017

This will be a significant upgrade to the motor vehicle laws. It envisages body cams on traffic cops and RTO officials to check corruption and 7-year imprisonment instead of current 2 years for drink-driving deaths, mandatory 3rd party insurance for all vehicles, and stiffer penalties for traffic violations to reduce the accident rates.Panel wants body cams on traffic cops, RTO officials
Economic Times, 23 Dec 2017. However due to frequent disruptions in Rajya Sabha and lack of support from Indian National Congress, the bill failed to turn into act and lapsed after the conclusion of interim budget session and on the account of general elections.

Indian Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019

Motor Vehicles amendment Act came in to force on 1 September 2019, providing higher penalties for traffic offences.

References

External links

Full text of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988Full text of the 1920 amendment (Page 166)Full text of the 1924 amendment (Page 211)
{{Transport in India Acts of the Parliament of India 1988 Road transport in India History of transport in India Transport legislation 1988 in transport