Green light likely to car colour change

Permitting a change in car colour was part of the recommendations of the Sundar Committee on Transport set up to review sections of the MVA. Currently it is illegal to change the colour of your car from what it is recorded in the registration document.

The other recommendations of the panel include raising penalties for road offences two to three times.

“The amount payable for offences such as over-speeding,crossing the stop line and jumping the light etc will be doubled or trebled if the proposal is approved,” a senior government official associated with the process told The Indian Express.

Penalty for talking on the mobile phone will be brought under the legal ambit by amending Section 177 of the MVA,entailing a punishment amounting to almost Rs 2,000.

The proposal also seeks to ban the use of devices such as Bluetooth and I-pods while driving.

In line with the recommendation of a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport,Tourism and Culture,unauthorised persons driving a vehicle could invite serious punishment.

Driving under the influence of alcohol,driving while being mentally unfit,driving without a licence plate are some of the offences which may even attract imprisonment.

“The government is considering a mode of punishment by way of which the higher the level of alcohol in the driver’s blood,the more the penalty. Also death due to drink driving is to be treated as culpable homicide not amounting to murder under the proposal,” said the official.

On the other hand,causing an accident would be treated as a premeditated crime instead of being construed as negligence if the amendment is passed in Parliament.