No RTO Visit Needed For Commercial Registration; VAHAN 4.0 System Introduced For Online Dealer Enrollment

Mumbai: Automobile dealers in state can now register commercial vehicles — including tourist taxis, goods-carrying rickshaws, pickups and tempos — directly at their premises. This change follows a circular issued by the government earlier this month, which allows for the registration of “fully built” commercial vehicles with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of less than 7,500 kg without the need for visits to Regional Transport Offices (RTOs). The circular excludes metered taxis, which means RTOs will continue to play a role in their registration.

Though transporters welcomed the move, saying it would save them time and money and provide relief from the “unnecessary” troubles they face at RTOs, officials from the transport department wondered if dealers would adhere to vehicle safety norms. Until now, dealers were only authorised to register non-transport vehicles, like private cars and two-wheelers with white number plates.

For dealer registration, the National Informatics Centre has developed an online application as part of the VAHAN 4.0 system, which stores the registration details of vehicles across the country. However, for renewal of fitness certificates, which is every two years up to the first eight years and then annually, these commercial vehicles will have to be taken to RTOs.

Some RTO officials, however, are upset with the decision, which they said was taken without consulting RTOs or field offices of the department. A senior RTO official, who did not wish to be named, said that during registration, motor vehicle inspectors check various passenger and road safety features. He doubted whether these aspects would be taken seriously by the dealers. Devices like panic buttons, speed governors, FASTag, and GPS are currently a must for commercial vehicles, the official said, and RTO inspectors ensure that new vehicles are fitted with genuine devices.

An inspector cited the example of High Security Number Plates (HSRP), which the Union government made mandatory for all new vehicles registered from April 1, 2019, to underscore the potential poor compliance. The inspector said that the dealers are supposed to hand over vehicles to customers only after affixing HSRP, but many newly registered vehicles can be seen on the roads without HSRP. Another officer added that it is not fair for RTO officers to sign registration certificates as the “registering authority” without even seeing the vehicle.