Taking a cue from Gujarat, West Bengal on Wednesday refused to implement the amended Motor Vehicle Act while the Tamil Nadu Government decided to implement it partially. The BJP-Shiv Sena coalition Government of Maharashtra stayed the implementation the fines imposed under the amended Act and wrote to the Centre to “reconsider” and “reduce” the fines for traffic violations through suitable amendments.

Against the backdrop of reluctance of several States to implement the new Motor Vehicle Act and instances of massive protests against it, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said States have the authority to revise fines.

“MVA falls in the concurrent list, and States as well as the Centre can revise and frame rules under the amended Act. The Government does not intend to garner revenue by increasing fines. The idea is to make roads safer and reduce the number of accidents. Are fines more important than someone’s life? You won’t be fined if you don’t break the rules,” the Minister said defending the amended Act.

Gadkari’s comments come after Gujarat announced to reduce traffic fines, with Chief Minister Vijay Rupani saying that the “base rate for the fines will be lower than the one proposed by the Union Government” and the revised fines will be implemented from September 16.

While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee  said that she will not implement the new law that imposes hefty fines for traffic violations, the Tamil Nadu Government decided to implement it partially.

Announcing the decision to stay the fines for traffic violation pending the revision of rates by the Centre, Maharashtra Transport Minister Diwakar Raote of the Shiv Sena said, “The fines are very high and beyond the limits of common people. People cannot pay so much of fine. We have asked the Central Government to reduce the fine. Till we get a reply from the Centre, we will not implement the new fines. If the reply is in the negative, we will decide our future action.”

Calling the amendments in the Motor Vehicles Act “too harsh” Mamata said it was against the federal structure of the Government. “We had opposed amendments in Parliament. If we implement the Motor Vehicles Act amendments, it will hurt general people,” the Bengal CM, who is one of the BJP’s fiercest critics, told reporters in Kolkata.

Adding that money is not the solution, Mamata said the problem needs to be looked at from the “humanitarian point of view”. Saying that accidents have come down, Mamata also added that Bengal already has the “Safe Drive Save Life” campaign — a flagship programme of the Bengal Government.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the stakeholders in his Government are still examining the issues.

Reacting to Maharashtra Transport Minister Diwakar Raote’s letter, Gadkari said, “Diwakar was a part of the committee that approved the Act. During my discussion with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, he didn’t mention it. I feel there’ll be no problem.”

The Tamil Nadu Government said as many as 26 clauses which prescribed hefty penalty for various traffic offences are being reviewed by the Chief Minister’s office and that penalty prescribed in the Act are likely to be reduced by the Government.

“The decision by a few States to cut the fine amount for a few traffic offences will be taken into account before arriving at the final decision,” said a Tamil Nadu transport official.

The Union Government had amended 93 clauses in Motor Vehicle Act which deals with penalties for traffic violations, registration of vehicles, national transport policy and vehicle designs.