Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Govt. of India has created Technical Secretariat at CIRT to enable function of Automotive Industry Standards Committee (AISC) set to review the safety in design, construction, operation and maintenance of motor vehicles with GVW of more than 3.5 tonnes. Mr. K.V.R.K. Prasad, Director, CIRT is the Chairman of AISC for Vehicles with GVW of more than 3.5 tonnes.

The Technical Secretariat at CIRT was inaugurated on 4th Jan. 2016 by Shri Abhay Damle, Joint Secretary (Transport), Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.

The composition of AISC for vehicles with GVW of more than 3.5 tonnes is as under :-

1. Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (Department of Road Transport & Highways) (MoRT&H (DoRT&H))
2. Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises (Department of Heavy Industry) ( MoHI&PE (DHI))
3. Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG)
4. Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF & CC)
5. National Automotive Testing, Research & Infrastructure Project (NATRIP)
6. Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT)
7. The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI)
8. Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP)
9. Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (VRDE)
10. International Centre of Automotive Technology (ICAT)
11. Transport Commissioner’s Office, Govt. of Maharashtra
12. Office of Commissioner for Transport & Road Safety, Transport Dept., Govt. of Karnataka,
13. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM)
14. Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU)
15. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
16. Tractor Manufacturers Association (TMA)
17. Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA)
18. Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association (ICEMA)
19. Collaborative Advance Research for Transportation (CART)
20. Association of Tamilnadu Coach Builders (ATCB)
21. All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC)
22. Maharashtra Rajya Truck Tempo Tankers Bus Vahatuk Mahasangh (MRTTTBVM)

The AISC for vehicles with GVW of more than 3.5 tonnes deals with the preparation of new standards for automotive items related to safety. It also reviews and recommends amendments to existing AIS, recommends adoption of such standards to Central Motor Vehicle Rules-Technical Standing Committee (CMVR-TSC), recommends commissioning of testing of such facilities at appropriate stages, advises CMVR-TSC on any issues referred to the Committee.

Technical Secretariat deals with the activities relating to Working Party-1 (Wp-1) on Road Traffic Safety of United Nations Economic Commission of Europe (UNECE). CIRT Pune acts as Secretariat to Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) in its interaction with WP-1.

Technical Secretariat also handles the Research & Consultancy Projects.