New Delhi, Apr 13 (IANS): Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said that the government will try and get the bill to amend the Motor Vehicles Act passed in the first week of the next session of Parliament.

"I will try my level best to take this bill to Rajya Sabha. In the next session in the first week, we will try to clear this bill," Gadkari told BTVi in an interview.

The draft legislation to amend the Motor Vehicles Act proposes to impose stiffer penalties for traffic rules violations and to protect the Good Samaritans from legal harassment.

The amendment bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday. However, the Rajya Sabha was not able to take up the legislation on the last day of the budget session.

The bill proposes hefty penalties for various traffic offences, three-year jail term for parents of minors caught driving and causing fatal accidents, and a ten-fold increase in compensation for the families of accident victims, among other things.