Bodies setting auto norms dominated by industry, Gadkari says

NEW DELHI: Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari seems to have hit the bull’s eye on Wednesday when he said the entities responsible for coming up with new automotive standards and carrying out tests are hesitant to allow changes as they are “dominated” by automobile manufacturers.
Gadkari came up with the comment at the conference organized by Bio Diesel Association of India to push for clean domestic fuel in vehicles.He added that his ministry will come out with a rule that all applications for type approval for vehicles using new and non-polluting technologies have to be approved within three months. “They can’t keep delaying approval,” the minister said.
His observations came at a time when his ministry is finalizing the proposed Road Transport and Safety Bill, which envisages setting up of a national authority with overarching power to regulate, recommend and monitor issues including manufacture, maintenance, registration and end-of-life of vehicles. The authority will also develop a framework to guide the determination of costs of safety equipment and their minimum standards.
Considering that the passage of new law will take time, the ministry has moved a Cabinet note seeking approval to set up a Road safety Board, which will later become Vehicle Regulatory and Safety Authority of India.
“Once the authority is in place it will keep an eye on all aspects including the working of entities involved in preparing standards and carrying out tests,” a government official said.
At present, Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), a cooperative industrial research association by the automotive industry and the heavy industries ministry, plays a key role in the preparatory work for setting automotive industry standards (IAS) code. ARAI has more number of automobile manufacturers as members.
“Since new MV Act was enforced, ARAI has been working over time to suggest and frame rules under Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) through its technical standing committee (TSC), which is dominated and dictated by vehicle manufacturers. The procedure to provide type approval and testing facilities of manufacturers are loaded in the interest of vehicle manufacturers,” said S P Singh of transport think tank IFTRT.
He said the CMVR-TSC should be reconstituted to give wider representation to various stake holders including road users, independent experts and interested groups.