Modifying Cars, Bikes Is Illegal In India; Heavy Penalty For Altering Your Own Car, Bike – Supreme Court
Motor Vehicle Act clearly mentions this fact.
How often have you thought about altering your car or bike and make it more ‘swanky’? You must have made a plan or maybe altered silencer or exhaust system or changed the color of the outer body.
Don’t do it!
Supreme Court has ordered that any alteration or modification done in the car or bike is illegal and can attract heavy penalty.
Supreme Court: Altering Car/Bike Is Not Legal
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Vineet Saran has given a verdict that no car or bike can be allowed to be altered in India.
This verdict came after a divisional bench in Kerala had permitted altering cars and bikes, under Kerala Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.
Overturning this Kerala Court order, Supreme Court said, “No vehicle can be altered so as to change original specification made by manufacturer. Such particulars cannot be altered which have been specified by the manufacturer for the purpose of entry in the certificate of registration,”
Actually, under the Motor Vehicle Act of India, such alterations and modifications are not allowed to happen. But for long, this law was ignored and sidelined. This Act has been amended now, and the new Act also mentions this fact, very clearly.
But now, with recent Supreme Court verdict, traffic cops and police can clamp down heavily on such altered vehicles, and penalize them.
Why Altered Vehicles Are Not Allowed?
As per the Law, any such alteration and modification done on cars and bikes will result in unexpected outcomes, which can be dangerous for not only the driver but everyone on the road.
And this makes sense as well.
Automobile companies spent millions of dollars on testing a vehicle before its launch, and the specifications during testing are cloned into the actual production stage.
Now, in case any component or part is altered and modified to suit the aesthetics and mood of the driver, then the whole system can operate differently, and things can go out of control.
Which Parts Cannot Be Altered?
Very interesting question and the Supreme Court has definitely dodged this question.
If you read the verdict, it is clear that it is an open-ended statement, without specifically stating what can be altered, and what cannot be altered.
Hence, it is left to the discretion of the traffic cops and the police to decide what can be allowed, and what cannot be allowed.
Hence, the ruling is sort of ambiguous, and to be on a safer side, it is recommended that you avoid any such changes, which can attract the wrath of the law.
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