The Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala Governments have raised concerns over certain provisions in the Draft Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2014, which they feel will infringe upon their autonomy.

Airing his views in the Transport Development Council (TDC) meeting here on Tuesday, Kerala’s Transport Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said the State would like to retain the power to fix and revise tariffs related to transport services and vehicles.

Karnataka’s Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said the “power of State Governments to formulate schemes will be taken away (once the Bill is passed).”

V Senthilbalaji, Transport Minister of Tamil Nadu said the Bill encroached upon the powers of the State Government. “The National Authority has been given sweeping and wide-ranging powers for making regulations which hitherto were being done by the State Governments,” he said, adding that the Draft makes serious inroads into the financial, legislative and administrative powers of State Governments.

Senthilbalaji said the rationale to introduce “such drastic changes and throw away lock, stock and barrel the existing provisions in the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 is totally unwarranted”.

He, however, welcome some features, such as providing medical facilities and cashless treatment to victims of road accidents, compulsory insurance etc.

Both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had reservations on allowing private agencies to test drivers and inspect motor vehicles. Several States also sought more time for drafting replies and sending these to the Centre.

Meanwhile, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said he hoped to place the Bill during the Winter session of Parliament, which begins on November 24. He said the Bill provided for a Unified Driver Licensing System across the country, automated testing to eliminate human bias in testing, a Unified Vehicle Registration System in India linked with insurance, vehicle offences and fitness, electronic and online submission of application for registration and development of an electronic platform to ensure collection, distribution and reconciliation of revenue between the various States in a seamless manner.

Plan for all-India permit for tourist buses

To migrate towards an all-India permit system for tourist buses – of the kind already implemented for trucks – the Road Transport Ministry has proposed a formula to share the revenue from the Central pool with different State Governments. The option is to grant all- India permits for tourist buses for one year on payment of annual consolidated fee at three rate slabs -- Rs 50,000 for ordinary tourist buses, Rs 75,000 for luxury tourist buses; and Rs 1,00,000 for super luxury tourist buses.

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