Even as road rage continues to take a heavy toll on people’s lives, with an estimated 1.50 lakh fatalities across the country and nearly 8,000 deaths in the State, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has enhanced compounding fee (CF) for various violations under the Motor Vehicle Act under section 200 and released the gazette notification on October 21.
Ever since the new CF schedule has been released, it has been much debated but a closer look at the Act answers many doubts.
The MV Act 1988 has prescribed various penal provisions against violations under sections 177 to 199. It may be noted that the intent of the Act is to prosecute the offenders by way of imposing a fine or imprisonment. However, as prosecution is not feasible for all offences on the road, a provision has been made under Section 200 allowing the State governments to compound the offences in lieu of prosecution, which is a time consuming process. However, compounding is not provided for certain offences like drunken driving (Section 185), fatal accidents (Section 187), where the accused are prosecuted in a court of law.
The State governments have the right to fix the amount of CF for various offences through a notification and the last such notification was issued in the year 2011. States like Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha , Gujarat, Assam and Punjab have already revised the CF schedule, while Telangana’s proposal is pending with the government.
"The decision to enhance the compounding fees was long overdue. The Supreme Court committee on Road Safety has been very critical of the State governments which have not revised the compounding fees in tune with the amended Act. The Government of India has also enacted many amendments to the MV Act in the year 2019 and enhanced fines and terms of imprisonment for various offences. Since the quantum of punishment both by levying fines and imprisonment for various violations from Section 177 to Section 199 have been enhanced by new amendments, the State governments have also decided to enhance the compounding fees in tune with the intentions of the amended Act," said Additional Transport Commissioner S.A.V. Prasada Rao.
A committee set up by the Transport Department to study the various provisions of the amended Act recommended enhancement of compounding fees and a notification was issued vide G.O M.S. No. 21. The CF for each offence has been fixed in such a way that it is in tune with the fine prescribed under relevant sections of the Act. The government has also fixed a range of amounts for violations under various sections.
