Gujarat government cuts hefty traffic penalties by 50%

Gandhinagar: Just days after hefty fines under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 came into effect on September 1, the Gujarat government on Tuesday reduced the penalties for violating traffic rules by about 50%.

The decision was announced by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani at a press briefing in Gandhinagar. The penalties announced by the state government would come into effect from September 16. The CM also announced that documents like driving licence will also be valid in digital forms.

Further, these fines would be payable digitally as well. Meanwhile, some states such as Odisha pushed it back saying people needed time to get acquainted with the enhanced penalties.

The Gujarat Chief Minister said the fines laid down in the new act were the maximum suggested and his government had reduced them after detailed deliberations.

While the new Act stipulated a fine of Rs 1,000 for riding without a helmet, the Gujarat government on Tuesday finalised the amount at Rs 500. Similar is the case with driving a four-wheeler without wearing a seat belt.

The penalty for driving without a licence has been brought down from Rs 5,000, as suggested by the new Act, to Rs 2,000 for two-wheelers and Rs 3,000 for four-wheelers.

Claiming that the Gujarat government was not showing leniency to traffic violators by reducing fines, Vijay Rupani pointed out that the penalties fixed now are still up to 10 times of that charged before the new Act came into force.