Make appropriate changes in MV Act to avoid mismatch of vehicles during toll collection: Karnataka HC advises MoRTH  

The High Court of Karnataka has advised the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to review the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and make appropriate changes to address the issue of mismatch of vehicle type that crops up during collection of toll due to variance in vehicular classifications, particularly buses, under the MV Act, and the rules framed under the National Highways Act, 1956.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while dismissing a petition filed by Karavali Bus Owners’ Association, Udupi, and several individual owners of private buses. The petitioners had questioned deduction of extra toll amount later in addition to the amount deducted from FASTag account instantly when their buses pass through two plazas between Mangaluru and Kundapur due to mismatch in vehicle type.

The Court noted that the variance in classification of vehicles in the MV Act and the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008 framed under the NH Act is the cause for this litigation and hence the MV Act requires statutory refinement.

Background of case

The petitioners had registered information of their vehicles in FASTag system as “minibus” even though the registration certificate of the vehicles issued by the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) classified their vehicles as “bus” with seating capacity of 38.

The argument of the petitioner was that the provision of the MV Act states that vehicles with unladen weight of less than 12,000 kgs are classified as Light Motor Commercial Vehicles (LMCVs), which include “minibus”.

However, toll collecting authorities were collecting extra amount, which applicable for ‘bus/truck” later as FASTag was deducting lower toll applicable to LMCVs at toll plazas.

The toll collecting had relied on the RTO data of the vehicles belonging to the petitioners as the norms framed under the fee collection rules of 2008 describes a light motor commercial passenger vehicle with seating capacity up to 32 as a “minibus” and as ‘bus/truck’ if the seating capacity is more than 32 and/or unladen weight of the vehicle is above 12,000 kg.

The court pointed out that MV Act describes a vehicle with unladen weight up to 7,500 kg as a light motor vehicle and beyond 12,000 kg as a heavy passenger motor vehicle but there is “vacuum” in the Act with respect to classification of vehicles between 7,500 kg and 12,000 kg.

Registering as minibus

The bus owners were registering their vehicle under the category of “minibus” in FASTag by taking advantage of the MV Act as many of their buses were under 12,000 kg even though the seating capacity exceeded 32, the court noted while pointing out that base rate of toll for LMVCs/minibus is ₹1.05 per km and for bus/truck is ₹2.2 per km.

Though the MV Act defines a medium passenger vehicle, the weight of such vehicles is left undefined, and the definition of a “bus” is nowhere found in the MV Act, the court said.

Also, the court noted a clarification given by the RTO to the petitioner-association that irrespective of the unladen weight of the vehicles, all stage carriage vehicles are mentioned as “bus” in the registration certificates.

Since the toll collection is governed by the NH Act and the fee collection rules, and not under the MV Act, the court upheld the action of the authorities in recovering differential toll amount from the FASTag accounts.

Published - June 07, 2025 09:07 pm IST