The Centre has notified the rules for plying of e-rickshaws making driver’s licence mandatory for operating them and limiting the maximum speed to 25 km per hour.

The government notified the Central Motor Vehicles (Sixteenth Amendment) Rules, 2014, which paves the way for plying of “special purpose battery operated vehicles“.

The new rules provide that e-rickshaw will be allowed to carry four passengers and 40 kg luggage while e-carts would transport goods up to 310 kg.

The Delhi High Court had on July 31 banned plying of e-rickshaws on the roads of the national capital saying “prima facie they are a hazard to other traffic as well as citizens“.

The rules define E-rickshaw as a special purpose battery operated vehicle “having three wheels and intended to provide last mile connectivity for transport of passengers for hire or reward“.

These vehicles are “constructed or adapted to carry not more than four passengers, excluding the driver, and not more than 40 kgs luggage in total; the netpower of its motor is not more than 2000 W and the maximum speed of the vehicle is not more than 25 kilometer per hour“.

For e-carts, the rules said that they should be “constructed or adapted for carrying goods by providing a separate load body or compartment with the maximum weight of 310 kg in addition to driver“.

The Centre has also made driving licences mandatory for both the battery operated vehicles.

“Every driving licence issued or renewed by a licensing authority to drive an E-rickshaw or E-cart shall be valid for a period of not more than three years from the date of issue, as the case may be, or till the validity of the driving licence, whichever is earlier,” the notification said.

The rule also included provisions for fitness certificate for the vehicles which will be periodically examined before certificates are issued.

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