New Delhi, July 31 :Buyers of new vehicles will soon get to register them with the regional transport office (RTO) online with minimal intervention of a dealer, a top government functionary has said.
Buyers will, thus, save on extra registration costs charged by dealers for this service. The buyer will, however, have to pay the registration fees of the vehicle to the dealer who will, then, deposit them with the RTO.
Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, said, “The law states that when you have purchased a new vehicle you have to take that vehicle to the RTO office for registration. We have made a change in that. Registration authority will be the state government which is the RTO but consumers can register the vehicle online, you don’t have to take the vehicle to the RTO. Consumer can save the fee charged by the dealer who used to register the vehicle on your behalf. The dealer will deposit the money with the state government.”
Two years ago, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) issued a circular allowing registered dealers to carry out certain RTO-related functionalities at their end. This was done to reduce the burden on RTOs and reduce corruption and extra charges slapped on the consumer.
There are more than 1,300 RTOs in India responsible for registering all class of vehicles – motorcycles, scooters, mopeds three-wheelers, cars, SUVs, vans, trucks, buses, mini trucks, tractors and quadricycles.
Though state governments have added new RTOs in the last few years, there is a desperate need to expand the resources further. Last year, RTOs handled registration of 26.26 million vehicles giving an average of 20,200 vehicles to every RTO for registration, as per data provided by the Society of Automobile Manufacturers.
An average of 55 vehicles get registered every day at each RTO. However, the work density at RTOs differs with their location. For instance, an RTO in Noida will have more registration cases than one in Shillong, Meghalaya.
Gadkari hopes that shifting of vehicle registration from the dealer to the buyer will help cut down on costs and improve transparency. Dealers have been using this transaction as one among several add-on services finally charged to the buyer.
Before moving to registration of vehicles, the government previously simplified the process of applying for driving license. New applicants need to register themselves first on the central government’s portal followed by uploading of documents. The applicant, then, needs to book a slot for an exam with the RTO officer.
While the whole process of securing a license comes at a cost of Rs 200, if done individually, a middleman charges anywhere between Rs 1,500-3,000 for the same.
