THE CARRIAGE BY

ROAD ACT,2007
(41 of 2007) &
THE CARRIAGE BY
ROAD RULES, 2011
P.M. Kulkarni,
Chief Manager (Law),
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.,
(MD), Head Office -Mumbai

OBJECTIVES OF THE ACT

To regulate and limit the liability of
common carriers
To provide for
common carriers

registration

of

To regulate carriage of hazardous

and dangerous goods

COMPARISION OF NEW AND OLD ACT

CARRIAGE BY ROAD ACT 2007

Definitions &
Coverage

CARRIERS ACT 1865

The definition of common carrier and Common

carrier
person modified to make them more includes all transport by
specific for motorised road transport.
land & inland navigation
Defines
Consignee,
Consignor, Does not
Consignment,
,Goods
,
Goods terms.
Forwarding Note & Goods Receipt.

define

these

Registration

Certificate of registration is necessary for No such provision

a person to engage in the business of
common carrier.

Carriage of
hazardous
goods

Carrier
needs
to
ensure
transporting that the goods are
insured

Unclaimed
consignment

Can sell unclaimed goods, retain a part of No provision for sale of

the proceeds for expenses and return the unclaimed consignment
rest to the consignor or consignee.

Offences

Provided

before No
provisions
for
hazardous and dangerous
goods.

No such provision

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
common carrier means a person engaged
in the business of collecting, storing,
forwarding or distributing goods to be carried
by goods carriages under a goods receipt or
transporting for hire of goods from place to
place by motorized transport on road, for all
persons undiscriminatingly and includes a
goods booking company, contractor, agent,
broker and courier agency engaged in the
door-to-door transportation of documents,
goods or articles utilizing the services of a
person, either directly or indirectly, to carry
or accompany such documents, goods or
articles, but does not include the
Government

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
"consignee" means the person named as
consignee in the goods forwarding note;
"consignment" means documents, goods or
articles entrusted by the consignor to the
common carrier for carriage, the description
or details of which are given in the goods
forwarding note;
"consignor" means a person, named as
consignor in the goods forwarding note, by
whom or on whose behalf the documents,
goods or articles covered by such forwarding
note are entrusted to the common carrier for
carriage thereof;

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
"goods" includes (i) containers, pallets or similar articles
of transport used to consolidate goods;
and
(ii) animals or livestock;
Registering Authority means a State
Transport Authority or a Regional
Transport constituted under section 68 of
the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988

REGISTRATION AS COMMON CARRIER

Person cannot engage in the business of Common
Carrier without Certificate of Registration granted by
the Registering Authority
Registration Certificate of two commercial vehicles
registered in his name or in the name of organization or
in the name of partner or Proprietor or Director or a
Contract letter or Work Order for carrying out function
as a common carrier.
Common carrier shall have a net worth of Rs. 5 lakhsof
Rs. 20 lakhs in case he/she intends to provide a
Certificates at a higher risk supported by the Certificate
from the Chartered Accountant or Audited balance
sheet or Income Tax Return.
Common Carrier should not have been blacklisted or
de-registered earlier.

VALIDITY & SUSPENTION OR CANCELLATION

OF REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE

Registration No. is mentioned in the GFN. The registration

certificate is valid for a period of 10 years.

The registering authority has a power to suspend or cancel

the registration certificated on the satisfaction that
Common carrier has
1. failed to maintain registers as prescribed under the
Act.
2. shifted the registered office without obtaining the
permissions
3. failed to submit the reports prescribed under the Act
within 120 days after the Thirty First March of every
year.
4. failed to display Certificate of registration at registered
office or branch office.
5. allowed to load the motor vehicle beyond the gross
vehicle weight mentioned in the Registration Certificate
whose

REMEDIES AGAINST REFUSAL/

SUSPENSION/ CANCELLATION OF
REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE.
The Registering Authority is under obligation
to issue Show Cause Notice to the common
carrier before refusing his application for
grant
of
Registration
Certificate
or
suspension or cancellation of certificate and
offer opportunity of hearing.
The common carrier has a right to file an
appeal within period of 60 days from the date
of order refusing the application for grant of
or suspending/revoking the certificate of
registration to the State Transport Appellant
Tribunal

GOODS FORWARDING NOTE

Every consignor to execute GFN in the format prescribed

under Form 7 of the rules

Consignor is responsible for the correctness of the

particulars furnished in the GFN and is responsible to
indemnify the common carrier against any damage suffered
due to the reasons of incorrectness or incompleteness of
the particulars on the GFN.

Consignor is under obligation to issue Goods Forwarding

Note in duplicate to the transporter. GFN should contain on
upper left hand corner in Red colour Expand goods if the
consignment is pertaining to hazardous goods.

The common carrier has to return an Acknowledged copy of

GFN to consignor.

Consignor has to make a mention of valid Insurance Policy

for carrying dangerous & hazardous goods on the GFN.

GOODS RECEIPT

The Common Carrier upon receipt of the GFN has to issue a

Goods Receipt, in the format prescribed under Form, of the
rules which is reproduced below:

LIABILITY OF THE COMMON CARRIER

The general rule laid down in the Act is that the liability of
the Common Carrier is limited. The liability of a common
carrier for loss of, or damage to consignment is
restricted /limited having regard to the value, freight and
nature of goods, documents or articles of the
consignment.

According to Rule 12, the liability of common carrier for

total loss shall be limited to ten times the freight paid or
payable.

As per Rule 12 (9) the liability of Common Carrier, actual

freight collected or due or 90% of total charges excluding
the taxes shown on the Goods Receipt whichever is
higher.

Rule 12 further lays down that the liability of the Common

Carrier calculated shall not exceed the value of the goods
as declared in the GFN

EXCEPTION TO GENERAL RULE

Common carrier can fix higher risk rate for
enlarging its liability for loss or damage to
consignment provided the consignor
undertakes to pay such higher risk rate
determined by the common carrier for
movement of such consignment.
The
consignor and common carrier can enter
into an agreement for compensation for
loss or damage to the consignment at
higher risk on the condition that the
consignor shall pay higher transportation
charges to the common carrier for its
responsibility
to
pay
the
higher
compensation

STATUTORYLIABLITY OF COMMON CARRIER

The Common Carrier is responsible and liable to the consignor for
the loss or damage to any consignment in accordance with the
GFN, even such loss or damage has arisen on account of any
criminal act of the common carrier or any of his servants/agents.
No defence of man of ordinary prudence.
The only defence general rule is that the loss or damage is arisen
out of :
(a) Act of God
(b) Act of war or public enemy
(c) Riots and civil commotion ;
(d) Arrest, restraint or seizure under legal process ;
(e) Order or restriction or prohibition
imposed by the Central Government or a State
Government.

LITIGATION UNDER THE ACT

Consignor/consignee shall serve a notice on the common carrier
within a period of 180 days from the date of booking of the
consignment before initiating any suit or other legal proceedings
against the common carrier for any loss of, or damage.
The only defence available to the common carrier in such suit / legal
proceedings for such loss/ damage to the consignment is Force
Majure.
The delivery of the consignment to the consignee by the common
carrier shall be treated as a prima facie evidence of the delivery of
goods as described in GFN.
The consignee has to give notice to the common
carrier within six days from the date of actual
handing over of the consignment
in case there is loss or damage to the consignment.

TRANSPORTATION OF
DANGEROUS & HAZARDOUS GOODS
Common carrier is bound to follow the procedure to
safeguard the consignment as specified under Rule 130
to 137 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 while
carrying goods of dangerous or hazardous nature.
Common carrier has to ensure that consignment of
dangerous or hazardous goods is covered by one or
more insurance policy for providing relief in case of
death or injury to a person or damage to any property or
the consignment arising out of accident.
Consignor to insure the consignment of dangerous or
hazardous goods under the Public Liability Insurance
Act, 1991.

OFFENCE UNDER THE ACT

The act requires strict compliance of following provisions

1. To obtain the registration certificate before commencing the business of

common carrier.
2. To fulfil the requirements of the Motor Vehicle Rules 130 to 137 while
transporting the dangerous and hazardous goods.
3. To ensure that consignment is covered by one or more insurance policy for
providing relief in case of death or injury to a person or damage to any
property or the consignment arising out of accident.
4. Not to transport the goods banned by the Central Government.
. Any contravention of the above provisions is an offence and is punishable
with fine only. The first offence & subsequent offence with fine which may
extend upto Rs. 5000 & 10000/- respectively.
. The offence is compoundable either before the filling of the complaint or
after instituting the prosecution.

APPLICATION OF THE ACT TO OMCS

NOT APPLICABLE
Tank trucks (TTs) are offered to the
OMCs exclusively.
During the contract period, the
transporters are not permitted to offer
their trucks to any other person.

APPLICABLE

Prior to the contract with OMCs, the

transporters are free to offer their
TTs to other users.

The Act provides that before

starting
the
business
of
transportation, the transporter has
to register as a common carrier.

The argument for non-applicability

hold good in case TTs are owned by
OMCs and are used exclusively for
the movement of their individual
products.

The TTs has to report the supply

location after delivery of the product to
the consignee.
The transporters are paid transport
charges per Round Trip Distance basis.
The TTs are designed to suit the
particular requirement of OMCs and
cannot be used to carry any other
product other than petroleum.