FASTags are already mandatory for vehicles bought after December 2017. The Road Transport Ministry on Thursday said it is now considering mandating it for older vehicles i.e. those sold before December 2017. To this effect, the ministry has invited comments for a proposed amendment of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, in a draft gazette notification on Tuesday. If finalised, older vehicles (sold before December 2017) will need to have FASTags starting January 1, 2021. Comments to the changes can be emailed to the Ministry at: jspbmorth@gov.in, until the end of September. FASTag details could be captured while getting a new insurance as well: Another proposed change is that the Ministry wants mandate FASTags for getting new third-party insurance policies. Every vehicle on Indian roads is mandated to have third-party insurance, and under the current CMVR an authorised insurer has to issue an insurance policy to every vehicle owner, along with a certificate of insurance. As of now, there is no provision to input a vehicle’s FASTag number in the certificate, but in the draft gazette notification, it has proposed to add a new column to capture FASTag details of a motor vehicle. This is slated to come into effect on April 1, 2021. FASTags becoming mandatory for a number of things: It appears that the Ministry has plans of making FASTags mandatory for a number of things aside from digital toll payments, which was their initial intended use case. Just last week, FASTags were made mandatory to avail discounts on…
