Owners & Manufacturers Liable For Illegal Modification Of Vehicles; Not Shopkeepers: Kerala High Court Opines Prima Facie

The Kerala High Court recently held that as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, the liability for alteration of vehicles is on the owner or manufacturer of the vehicle and not on the shopkeeper.Justice Amit Rawal, while holding so, observed that in the instant case, the notices issued by the Road Transport Office, Alappuzha, to. The Kerala High Court recently held that as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, the liability for alteration of vehicles is on the owner or manufacturer of the vehicle and not on the shopkeeper. Show cause notices had been issued to the petitioner by the Alappuzha Road Transport Office on the ground that the selling of such articles would amount to violation of the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act which prohibits illegal vehicle modification. It was submitted by the counsels for the petitioner, Advocates D. Kishore and Meera Gopinath that the materials conformed to the provisions of Rule 100 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 amended in 2020, and that the provisions of the sections in the show cause notices issued by the RTO would only be applicable to owners and manufacturers of the vehicle, but not the shopkeepers.