DNA Edit: Diluting MVA – Public opinion is supreme, not rank populism

If the newly-introduced Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) is diluted by state governments, as it looks likely now, it might sound like a victory bugle for the cause of federalism, but in reality would deliver a body blow to the concept of parliamentary legislation. A long overdue bill enacted by both Houses of Parliament, would go down in a hail of rank populism, engineered by, among others, BJP’s own chief ministers. Those who sing hosannas to an unitary system can take a bow, but if progressive legislations like the MVA gets diluted by state governments, then an unhealthy precedent is being set. Sadly, if there is one legislation that has been welcomed by all right-thinking denizens, it is this Act. 

Since September 1, when the Act came into force, a semblance of order has been restored in one of the most chaotic traffic systems in the world. With the world’s highest number of road accident fatalities at 1.46 lakh annually, this is a law that India can do with. Roads in the country have become a nightmare. Traffic violations are far too many to list; jumping traffic lights is rampant, wrong side driving leading to fatal accidents has gone up and it is too much to expect two-wheeler drivers to don helmets. BJP-ruled Gujarat, Telangana run by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Congress-ruled Rajasthan, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, Trinamool Congress’s West Bengal and Aam Aadmi Party-governed Delhi have deferred the Act’s implementation and constituted committees to ‘soften’ the impact on motorists. The states have been quick to point out that they have the powers to reduce the penalties, if they so desire. 

While the Act itself is far reaching and multi-layered, it is only the fines that have raised hackles. For driving without a seat belt, the fine is Rs 1,000 as against Rs 100 earlier; for driving while using a mobile phone, it has gone up to Rs 5,000 from Rs 1,000 and for drunken driving it is now Rs 10,000 in place of Rs 2,000. The penalty for driving without a licence has been raised to Rs 5,000 from Rs 500 and of over-speeding from Rs 400 to Rs 1,000. Surely, in these times when monthly earnings have gone up nearly as much as traffic violations, it should be unrealistic to expect that fines be paid according to levels that existed three decades ago! Surprisingly, state governments are now behaving as if they did not know. 

As Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has pointed out, all states were taken on board with their Chief Secretaries, Transport Secretaries and all relevant officials, before the law came into force. Gadkari is well within his rights to seek a legal review of the move by states. While public opinion is paramount in any democracy, blackmail is not. Once an Act has been passed, approved by all political parties and their MPs, it would be incorrect to assume that the much-harried public on the road will not welcome reform where it is due. Hopefully, the more progressive sections of the Act are not hit by mindless populism.