The road ministry of India has officially announced that any penalty imposed on General Motors for violating the testing norms will be implemented by the respective state governments, where the production facilities are located. Along with, the ministry is mulling towards empowering the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which will amend the model concession agreement.
Expressing his views on this, the secretary of ministry of road transport and highways, Vijay Chhibber was quoted as saying, “There will be consequences of any default as per the Motor Vehicles Act. The state governments concerned where these production units are have been asked to look at the extent of default and determine the penalty. The Act provides for financial and other penalties. So, let the state governments concerned figure that out.”
It must be noted that the road ministry established a panel in July 2013, in order to look into the recall of 1.14 lakh units of Tavera, which was called up by General Motors. Also, the road ministry asked the NHAI to look for key changes required in the model concession agreement, prior to delivering a formal note on the context. Sources close to the development process stated that the note is likely to be prepared in around 2-3 weeks. He further said, “For any change to the MCA, we have to go back to the Cabinet and that is a cumbersome process. We are looking at how to authorise and delegate this to NHAI board.”
