Download Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 PDF in English (English)

About the MVA

The **Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (MVA)** is the principal statute governing all aspects of road transport vehicles in India. It replaced the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 and consolidated the law on licensing of drivers and conductors, registration of vehicles, control of transport and traffic, insurance against third-party risks, and offences and penalties related to motor vehicles. The act runs to roughly 230 sections, organised into 14 chapters covering the preliminary provisions, driver and conductor licensing, vehicle registration, control of transport and traffic vehicles, construction and maintenance standards, third-party insurance, claims tribunals, and offences and penalties. It has been amended significantly by the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 to introduce stiffer penalties and modernise the regime. This page indexes the full text of every MVA section, sourced and kept current with official notifications. Use the search above to find a section by keyword (e.g. “licence”, “insurance”, “accident”) or by section number.