Meet social activist Ramanjeet Singh who is waging legal battle for implementing amended MV Act rules in Telangana

Hyderabad: Social activist and techie Ramanjeet Singh has waged a legal battle seeking to implement recently amended Motor Vehicle (MV) Act rules, which aim to impose severe penalties on inebriated drivers who cause the deaths of innocent people by their irresponsible driving.

Recently, Ramanjeet Singh filed a PIL in the Telangana High Court in this regard. The HC after hearing his arguments took cognizance of the matter stating that the cause and issues raised were genuine, hence issued notices to the state and central transport authorities to explain their steps to implement the newly amended provision of the MV Act.

Sharing details about the drunk driving cases in Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Rachakonda, the social activist said that a total of 1,23,559 persons were booked in the three Commissionerates during 2022. Of the total, the highest number of persons booked under drunk driving cases in Cyberabad was 62,114 persons, followed by 44,150 persons in Hyderabad and 17,295 persons in Rachakonda.

Ramanjeet Singh said that the state and central government have failed to put in place effective mechanisms to implement the provisions of the law. According to him, both the State and Central governments were not implementing the following Rules, Regulations, Sections, Penal provisions, and other specific Compliance provisions, that are – Section 206 (4) of the Motor VehiclesAct,1988, as amended by the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Elaborating, he said that as per the law, the driving license (DL) of the person caught in drunk driving should be seized. For the first offense, the DL should be seized for three months, and for the second or subsequent offense, the DL of such a person should be revoked. However, the situation at ground level is in total contrast, the police are not seizing the vehicles in every drunk driving case. In case, any vehicle is seized, the police are providing only a color Xerox/duplicate copy and not the original seizure notice.

Apart from that, there is also no facility for Electronic seizure, where DL is produced in electronic form by the violator. Police and transport departments are yet to create a portal for the electronic seizure of driving licenses. In response to an RTI reply, all three Police Commissionerates have replied ”Nil” against electronic seizure of licenses and the seizure of DL is far lesser than the actual number of DD cases. Police booked DD cases and got the cases compounded in bulk in Lok Adalat without any follow-up action of DL seizure and disqualification, he said.

Highlighting the nonimplementation of Rule 139(A) of Central Motor Vehicle Rules,1989, Ramanjeet Singh said that as per the Act, any police officer or other authorized officer can electronically seize documents produced in electronic form if there is an offense that requires it. Rule 139 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR) was amended in November 2018 to allow for the production of documents in electronic form. The drivers of motor vehicles must produce the DL when asked by a police officer.

“The police and transport departments are yet to create a portal for the electronic seizure of driving licenses. An RTI data revealed that all the three Police Commissionerate have not made any electronic seizure of DL in drunk driving cases,” he said.

The social activist further said that the police are also not implementing section 19 (1A) of MV Act,1988. As per the law, the Licensing Authority can disqualify a person from driving for the offence of drunk driving, where the DL has been seized and forwarded to it by Police u/s 206(4). For the first offense, the DL should be seized for three months, for a second or subsequent offense, the DL of such person should be revoked. In case of revocation, the details of such persons shall be kept in the public domain, he added.

“In Telangana, the police and transport departments are not implementing this law strictly in every drunk driving case. Even in cases where the persons have committed fatal accidents under the influence of alcohol, this is not implemented· Every person whose DL has been suspended u/s 19 shall undergo DRTC (Driver Refresher Training Course) as per Section 19(2A). But, the Centre (MoRTH) has not prescribed detailed rules in this regard (training agency; syllabus and duration) even after five years of making this law,” Ramanjeet said.