Press Trust of India
New Delhi, August 6: Just ‘jugaad’ to produce low cost assembly vehicles is not acceptable and vehicles have to confirm to norms under the Motor Vehicle Act, Parliament was informed Thursday. “Jugaads do not confirm to the specifications of a Motor Vehicle under Motor Vehicle Act, 1988,” Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Pon Radhakrishnan said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
Radhakrishan was replying to a query whether the plying of low cost assembled vehicles, more commonly known as ‘jugaad’, is permissible in accordance with Motor Vehicles Act. “Any motor vehicle as defined in section 2 (28) of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 (MV Act) has to confirm to the testing procedure and specification notified under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989,” Radhakrishnan said. The reply, however, did not mention any particular vehicle.
Last year, Delhi High Court had banned plying of e-rickshaws on safety concerns. Later in December, the Cabinet approved amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act to give legal status to such vehicles. “In order to remove this difficulty and facilitate plying of e-rickshaw and e-carts, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed to amend Section 7(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which will give relaxation to e-rickshaw and e-cart drivers only,” the government had said.
These vehicles are “constructed or adapted to carry not more than four passengers, excluding the driver, and not more than 40 kg luggage in total; the net power of its motor is not more than 2,000 W and the maximum speed of the vehicle is not more than 25 kilometer per hour”, it added.
