Proposal to ease vehicle fitness rules

Hyderabad: The Centre has proposed easing the rules covering renewal of fitness certificates of transport vehicles, allowing a two-year gap between fitness check-ups for those up to eight years old, and one year for vehicles that are older. As of now, commercial vehicles need to renew their fitness certificate annually.

The Union ministry of road transport and highways proposed the amendments to the Central Vehicle Motors Rules on July 12. The state government can send any objections within 30 days. 

The rules will come into force on the date of final publication of the rules in official gazette. 

Drivers and vehicle-owners welcomed the amendment saying that newer vehicles do not need frequent fitness check-ups.

“No fitness certificate shall be required at the time of registration for a new transport vehicle sold as a fully-built vehicle and such vehicle shall be deemed to be having certificate of fitness for a period of two years from the date of registration,” the ministry said. “We welcome the amendment, as we see no point of doing fitness check-ups for new vehicles every year, especially at the time of new registrations. We spend around Rs 700 to Rs 1,000 for the checkups and that money can be saved,” said Mr A. Sathi Reddy, president for Telangana Auto Drivers’ Samakhya.

“The new rule will save time for the drivers,” said Mr Rajender Reddy, working president for the Telangana Lorry Owners Association. 

“With the advancement in automobile technology, fitness checkups in every two years for new commercial vehicles are reasonable, and we support it,” said joint transport commissioner C. Ramesh.