The penalty for failing to abide by pollution and noise norms under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, is now ₹2,000 for the first offence, ₹5,000 for the second and ₹10,000 for each subsequent offence, the state government has decided.

The government had in 2022 revised the penal provisions under the act for several traffic offences, fixing the penalty for violating pollution and noise norms at ₹10,000.

The penalties were hiked for several offences such as violation of “the stop line” rule, moving in the wrong direction on one-way roads, speeding and drink driving, not possessing a valid pollution-under-control certificate and not letting emergency vehicles pass.

The move triggered protests from bus and minibus owners who demanded lowering of the fine amount and introduction of graded fines for the first, second and subsequent offences.

A notification signed by transport secretary Saumitra Mohan said the driver of the offending vehicle “shall be disqualified for holding a licence for a period of three months” every time an offence is committed.

A copy of the notification on the “partial modification” of the fine structure, which was issued on August 9 and came into “immediate effect”, has been sent to all police commissioners, district magistrates, superintendents of police and regional transport officers.

“The state government considered the appeals from motorists, including transport vehicle owners who have been long demanding a revision of the fine structure. Transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty met the operators on August 9 and subsequently, the structure was changed,” said a senior transport department official.

Several bus and minibus operators welcomed the state government’s decision saying the earlier structure had left them bleeding because owners would often fail to meet the deadline for the renewal of the pollution-under-control certificate by a day or two and would be slapped with a penalty of ₹10,000.

“We had urged the state government to change this. We are happy that a graded fine structure has been introduced,” said Rahul Chatterjee, the general secretary of the All Bengal Bus Minibus Samannay Samity.