Driving schools find flaws with state transport bill, call it myopic

PUNE: The motor driving schools in the state have sought more time to submit suggestions and objections on the state transport department's proposed draft of the Maharashtra Mechanically Propelled Vehicles & Road Safety Act- 2015.
Tuesday was the last day of submission. School owners said that 15 days is not enough and they should get at least a month more to comment.Some of them argued that there is no need for a new law at the state-level when the Union government has already tabled a new transport bill.
The state government has proposed stricter rules for issuing driving licences, use of advanced system for tracking transport vehicles and mandatory training for drivers of the motor driving schools. The bill proposes issuing driving licences only after the age of 18.
According to sources, the state government is likely to table the draft bill in the monsoon session of the state assembly and implement it in August.
Raju Ghatole, president of the association of motor driving schools, said, "There is no need for the Act as the Union government has already proposed a new transport bill which is in Parliament. A parallel Act in the state will lead to contradictions and confusions. Besides, 21 laws pertaining to the transport sector are already in force. Why does the government want to add another act with limited scope?"
Ghatole said the draft was made public on June 15 and the last day to submit suggestions was June 30.
"The government did not publish the draft in newspapers. It has not been displayed even at the RTO offices. A period of two weeks is too short for us to respond," he said.
Nilesh Gangurde, a member of the association, said the government has not defined the purpose and scope of the draft. The clauses mentioned in the draft are vague and have limited scope. The government needs to scrap the proposal.
Maharashtra's proposal
# No person under the age of 18 shall drive a motor vehicle in any public place
# The state government shall prescribe the rules, apart from conditions and requirements laid down in rule 24 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) regarding the minimum area of driving school, list of books to be maintained, minimum number of vehicles, their make/models and age of vehicles to be used for imparting training as prescribed in the said rule
# No person shall work as driving instructor unless he holds an "instructor licence" as prescribed under the rules
# A person applying for heavy passenger/goods vehicle category licence shall hold an effective driving licence of light motor vehicle (excluding autorickshaw) for a period of one year and should have completed a three-month course of instructions in driving at an institute to be recognized by the state government
# The applicant for renewal of transport category licence shall undergo a refresher course of duration and contents which may be prescribed by the institute authorized for this purpose by the state government
# A driver of a motor vehicle who has committed a serious accident, which has resulted in at least one death due to his fault, shall undergo a refresher's training course from the institute to be authorized for this purpose by the state government
# An institute authorized by the state government shall grade driving training school after an independent inspection
# The state government shall make it mandatory to install radio frequency identification device (RFID tags), global positioning system (GPS), general packet radio service (GPRS) system in all transport vehicles, including setting up of central control room
** Objections by motor driving schools
# More time to file suggestions and objections
# No need for a separate act at the state-level
# No need for GPRS, GPS and RFID in all transport vehicles
# Separate and increased quota for motor driving schools in online booking of slots
# Provision of separate log-in ID
# No requirement of separate committee for inspection of motor driving schools