Centre planning simplified vehicle relocation policy

Vehicle owners, rejoice! Soon, those endless trips to the Regional Transport Office (RTO) for re-registering your vehicle after relocating could be a thing of the past.

The Union Road Transport Ministry is considering doing away with the dreaded chore of re-registration. This means the vehicle owner can retain the same number even after relocating.

As per the proposal before the ministry, vehicle owners have to pay life-time tax while purchasing the vehicle. If a person wants to relocate, there is no need to re-register and pay tax in the new state. Instead, the owner can retain the same registration number. However, the individual has to apply for a change of address.

At present, the owner has to re-register the vehicle by getting a no objection certification from the RTO where the vehicle was originally registered and pay road tax in the new place.

After paying tax in the new state, a new number will be allotted to his vehicle since all the states have been maintaining their own vehicle numbers. In several states, traffic police impose fine on vehicles from outside states unless they have re-registered it in their state within a specific period of time.

The matter of simplifying relocation of vehicle and doing away with re-registration was discussed in a recent meeting of state transport ministers. Based on the recommendation of the group of ministers, the Transport Ministry headed by Nitin Gadkari has written to states seeking their opinion.

The proposal also allays states’ fears about losing tax. Instead, the road tax revenue from the new vehicles will be pooled and same would be shared among all the states proportionately.A similar sharing of road tax collection in issuing national permits was successfully implemented by the Transport Ministry a few years back.

“A similar model can be adopted for the registration of new vehicle as well,” said an official from the ministry.