States can't lower prescribed traffic fines: Law Ministry

New Delhi: State governments cannot lower the fines for traffic violations below that prescribed under the Motor Vehicles Act, the law ministry has advised. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act passed by the Parliament in August last year paved way for manifold increase in fines for traffic violations - a whip that India’s transport minister Nitin Gadkari claimed will work well to discipline road users and reduce the rate of accidents in the country.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways sought legal opinion from the Ministry of Law and Justice, after one of the states had notified the fines for certain compoundable offences below that prescribed by the Act.

The law ministry has responded to the query, seeking advice from the Attorney General of India. “The state governments cannot pass any law or take executive action to lower the penalty or fine below that prescribed under the statutory provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, unless the assent of the President is obtained to such state law,” KK Venugopal, the Attorney General was quoted as saying.


As per the amended Act, state governments can tweak the fines that fall under the “compoundable” offences category whereby officers are designated to collect fine on the spot and let the offender go. The list of compoundable offences includes over-speeding, overloading, carrying excess passengers, not wearing helmets, failure to allow free passage to emergency vehicles, driving uninsured vehicles, among others.

The central government exercises powers to issue necessary directions if states fail to comply with these directions. “The disobedience of these directions could well attract the provisions of Article 356 of the Constitution of India, and one could therefore proceed on the basis that the central laws would implicitly be obeyed by the state governments,” Venugopal said.