Chapter IV — Registration Of Motor Vehicles
Section 59 — Power to fix the age limit of motor vehicle
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (Act 59 of 1988)
Text of the section
Power to fix the age limit of motor vehicle.—(1) The Central Government may, having regard to the public safety, convenience and objects of this Act, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify the life of a motor vehicle reckoned from the date of its manufacture, after the expiry of which the motor vehicle shall not be deemed to comply with the requirements of this Act and the rules made thereunder: Provided that the Central Government may specify different ages for different classes or different types of motor vehicles. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the Central Government may, having regard to the purpose of a motor vehicle, such as, display or use for the purposes of a demonstration in any exhibition, use for the purposes of technical research or taking part in a vintage car rally, by notification in the Official Gazette, exempt, by a general or special order, subject to such conditions as may be specified in such notification, any class or type of motor vehicle from the operation of sub-section (1) for the purpose to be stated in the notification. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 56, no prescribed authority or authorised testing station shall grant a certificate of fitness to a motor vehicle in contravention of the provisions of any notification issued under sub-section (1).
Reproduced from the India Code text of the Act. Bracketed superscript numerals are the official footnote markers for earlier amendments.
Amended by the 2019 Amendment Act
In section 59 of the principal Act, after sub-section (3), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:— “(4) The Central Government may, having regard to the public safety, convenience, protection of the environment and the objects of this Act, make rules prescribing the manner of recycling of motor vehicles and parts thereof which have exceeded their life.”. 25.
This is the amending instruction from the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act 32 of 2019), quoted verbatim. Read it together with the text above — the consolidated version is the section as it reads once these changes are applied.
Before you rely on this. The base text above is the Act as consolidated by the India Code, which predates the 2019 amendment; any 2019 change is shown separately rather than merged in. Later amendments may also apply. For anything official, read the current text on the e-Gazette or the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways site.
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