Chapter XIII — Offences, Penalties And Procedure

Section 180Allowing unauthorised persons to drive vehicles

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (Act 59 of 1988)

Text of the section

Allowing unauthorised persons to drive vehicles.—Whenever, being the owner or person in charge of a motor vehicle, causes, or permits, any other person who does not satisfy the provisions of section 3 or section 4 to drive the vehicle shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

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 180 of the principal Act, for the words "which may extend to one thousand rupees", the words “of five thousand rupees” shall be substituted. 63.

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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