The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has announced amendments to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) in a bid to use more of information technology and electronic monitoring for enforcing traffic rules and less harassment of drivers and citizens. This was required after the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019 was passed and was published on August 9, 2019. Accordingly, the rules for amendment to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 for certain provisions of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019 were published through GSR 584 (E) dated September 25, 2020. The amendment inter-alia provides for the definition for Challan, Portal inserted as requirement for providing the services through IT and further the enforcement of electronic monitoring and enforcement.
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(All motor vehicle documents, if validated through electronic means, shall not be demanded in physical form)
All details of driving licences disqualified or revoked by the licensing authority will be recorded and updated chronologically in the VAHAN portal. The new amendments also make provisions for producing and obtaining certificates related to motor vehicles in physical as well as electronic form as well. If the details of the documents are found validated through the electronic means by the enforcement officer then physical forms of such documents shall not be demanded for inspection, including in cases where there is an offence made out necessitating seizure of any such documents.
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(Handheld communication devices such as mobile phones will be allowed to use only for navigation purposes)
The biggest update to the CMVR 1989 is that handheld communication devices such as mobile phones will be only allowed for navigation purposes. The manner in which these navigation devices are used will be in such a way that the concentration of the driver will not be disturbed.
All the new rules in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019 will be in effect from October 1, 2020 onwards.
