Car companies have been taking you for a ride. Here’s how

When it comes to punishing car manufacturers who don’t follow the rules and regulations, motor vehicles law in India fail to do what is expected from them, tahnks to the laidback attitude and weak provisions.

With government agencies passing on the responsibilities to one another, car manufacturers have always been taking Indian customers for a ride, without most of them even knowing it.

Take the example of General Motors India, which was held guilty for committing "corporate fraud" as it violated technical specifications to meet emission norms while manufacturing Tavera. It has been more than two-and-a-half years, but there has been no action from the government, since the centre has passed the buck to the Gujarat government, which has conveniently forgotten about it.

Similarly, the alleged use of defeat device by Volkswagen is yet to be considered as an offence, since the panel of IIT experts set up for this has not yet come out with any findings.

Heavy Industries minister Anant Geete had claimed that the German car maker accepted the blame of fixing the defeat device for emission test, after which the matter was referred to the transport ministry. However, the transport ministry is yet to take any action because it says that the reports they received did not mention any evidence of such violation.

These loopholes in the investigations, along with the laidback attitude of the central and state government result in no fines being imposed on the defaulters, who continue playing with the environment and customers’ safety, fearless and shameless.

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