You CANNOT be fined for wearing slippers while riding/driving: Minister Gadkari

With the amended MV Act in place, there is a lot of uproar in the public. Many motorists have a fear of getting fined by the cops even when all the documents are in order. The government have even directed the states police forces not to stop any vehicle randomly for checking anymore but a lot of rumours have surfaced on the Internet in recent times. Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari recently posted a tweet saying that a lot of rumours have been floating around on the Internet and not all of them are true.

अफवाहों से सावधान…!#TrafficFines #MotorVehicleAct pic.twitter.com/vd2gLu72i3

— Office Of Nitin Gadkari (@OfficeOfNG) September 25, 2019

A slew of posts online saying that people who drive their cars or ride the two-wheelers with slippers are getting caught by the cops and it is illegal to do so. Other rumours are that the people who wear half shirts while riding will be fined by the cops and even wearing traditional clothes like dhoti is not allowed. While there is no news of people wearing slippers on bikes, we did a post sometime back saying that the cops will soon implement the rule and anyone wearing slippers on two-wheelers will be issued a fine of Rs 1,000. A few days back, a taxi driver was also fined in Jaipur for wearing slippers and keeping his shirt button unopened.

Well, Nitin Gadkari, who was the force behind the new MV Act has posted the tweet and clarified that no such absurd fines will be issued to the motorists. His list of offences includes “wearing the half shirt”, “wearing lungi or vest”, “not keeping an extra bulb in the car”, “keeping the windscreen dirty” and “wearing slippers while driving or riding”. Well, from now on, people can be sure of the fact that no cop will be able to issue a fine of these grounds to the motorists.

The new MV Act has seen quite a few challans soon after its implementation where the fines have exceeded the value of the vehicle. The high amount of fine was introduced to ensure that the motorists adhere to the traffic laws strictly. However, due to the lack of awareness, many motorists started opposing it. Many states including Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and more have not implemented the new MV Act as is. Instead, these states are formulating new fines. The state governments of these aforementioned states claim that with the higher fine amounts, there will be a higher amount of corruption in the administration and cops will take bigger bribes from the motorists. A few days back, a sting operation by a TV channel found out that this claim is actually true and officials in Ghaziabad court are allegedly taking bribes of Rs 5,000 to nullify the challan amount of Rs 15,000. In the future, we do hope that the stricter laws make the roads a better place and force the motorists to stick to the rules and be safe on the roads.