ATTENTION Car Owners! Driving over 15-year-old vehicle? You may have to do this soon

If you are in possession of a car older than 15 years and want to keep on driving it, you may soon have to renew its fitness certificate every six months from the current requirement of testing once a year, according to a draft notification for amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules. The fees have also been increased further for conducting fitness test and grant and renewal of certificate of fitness for motor vehicles older than 15 years, said an official statement.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has issued the draft for providing a boost to electric vehicles, ensuring divyang friendly features in buses, and providing an enabling mechanism for scrapping of vehicles older than 15 years.

According to the draft notification, issued to seek comments and suggestions from stakeholders, "Priority seats, signs, securing of crutches/ canes/ walkers, hand rail/ stanchions, controls at priority seats and wheel chair entry/ housing/ locking arrangement for wheel chair for Divyangjan (Differently Abled passengers or passengers with reduced mobility) to be checked and ensured at the time of fitness inspection for buses has been introduced.

However, battery-operated vehicles will be exempted from the payment of fees for the purpose of issue or renewal of registration certificate and assignment of new registration mark. This was already issued earlier, but has been published again for legislative clarity for the amendments, the statement said.

The draft notification also provides that newly purchased motor vehicles will be exempted from the payment of fees for the purpose of issue of registration certificate and assignment of new registration mark subject to condition that the motor vehicle is presented for the registration along with the scrapping certificate of the previously owned vehicle of same category issued by the authorised scrapping centre/agency and the scrapping certificate has not been utilised for any other such cases in past.

Notably, fees have been revised for renewal of certificates of registration and assignment of new registration mark.