All India Tourist Vehicles (Authorisation or Permit) Rules, 2021

On 10^th March, 2021, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified the All India Tourist Vehicles (Authorisation or Permit) Rules, 2021 which shall come on effect on 1^st April, 2021.

Key features of Rules have been discussed below:

• Application for authorisation and permit (Rule 3): The authorisation and permit can be obtained only by a tourist vehicle operator by way of payment of fees as mentioned in Rule 5, according to the capacity of the vehicle. The procedure for grant of authorisation or renewal of authorisation is specified under Rule 3 and Rule 4 of the Rules. The application along with fee shall be in electronic form and the Transport Authority shall issue the authorisation or permit within period of thirty days from the date of receipt of application.
• Scope and Validity (Rule 7): The authorisation or permit shall be valid throughout India. It could be used for the transport of passengers individually or in a group, along with their personal luggage. No individual or a group of individuals shall use the vehicle for the transport of passengers individually or in a group, without the authorisation or permit.
• Transfer of authorisation or permit (Rule 8): The authorisation or permit can be transferable from one person to another only with the permission of the jurisdictional Transport Authority. In cases of death of the owner, the prospective owner shall have to get the ownership transferred by the transport authority within three months from such death.
• Replacement of vehicle (Rule 9): The holder of authorisation or permit can replace any tourist vehicle covered by the authorisation or permit with any other tourist vehicle of the same nature, with the permission of the jurisdictional Transport Authority.
• Distinguishing mark and List of Passengers (Rule 10 and 11): The authorised tourist vehicles shall display the words “All India Tourist Permit” on the rear left side of the vehicle in white letters in blue background along with the validity of the permit. A tourist vehicle should carry a list of passengers in electronic form or in physical form, which shall contain the details of origin and the destination of each passenger.
• Insurance (Rule 12): Authorised tourist vehicles should have a valid insurance coverage for passenger liability as well as the driver. The record of information of passengers should be kept by the authorised vehicle operator for at least a year.
• Cancellation (Rule 14): The authorisation or permit of the vehicle operator could be cancelled in cases such as: contravening provisions of these Rules; ceases to own the vehicle covered by authorisation or permit; obtained the authorisation or permit by fraud or misrepresentation, and acquires the citizenship of any foreign country.
• Appeals (Rule 15): Any person aggrieved by the order of the jurisdictional Transport Authority may appeal to the State Transport Appellate Tribunal within 30 days of such order.

*Tanvi Singh, Editorial Assistant has put this story together.