Road safety board set up, but debate over powers persists
National Road Safety Board gets constituted, but its advisory powers revive the debate over whether India needs a stronger road-safety regulator.
- The National Road Safety Board is a statutory body created under Section 215B of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
- The board is meant to advise the Centre and state governments on road safety.
- The Sunder Committee recommended a national road-safety body with powers to prescribe standards, monitor compliance, conduct safety audits, and coordinate across agencies.
- The Supreme Court urged the Central government in May 2026 to operationalise the board in S. Rajaseekaran v. Union of India.
The Centre has constituted the National Road Safety Board under Section 215B of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The board matters because India’s road-fatality burden remains very high, and the new body is intended to provide an institutional platform for road-safety coordination between the Union and state governments.
What happened now
The board was formed on June 29. It is a statutory body with experts and officials from the Union government and state governments. Its formal role is advisory: it is meant to advise the Centre and the states on road safety.
UPSC can ask about the National Road Safety Board as a statutory institution under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and then probe the governance debate around advisory versus regulatory powers, Centre-State coordination, and road-safety outcomes.
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