Proposal mooted to give automobile dealers in Uttar Pradesh right to register new vehicles

Transport department has sent proposal to the Uttar Pradesh government for an amendment to the State Motor Vehicle Rules

Automobile dealers in Uttar Pradesh may get all the legal rights to register new vehicles in their showrooms if the state government accepts a proposal to this effect, people closely dealing with the issue have revealed.

RTOs would delegate their authority to register new vehicles to the dealers once the Uttar Pradesh government acts upon the transport department’s latest proposal. (PTI FILE PHOTO)

The regional transport offices (RTOs) would delegate their registering authority to the dealers once the state government acts upon the transport department’s latest proposal in this regard, they said.

The proposal sent by transport commissioner Dheeraj Sahu to the state government last week has sought an amendment to the State Motor Vehicle Rules to designate automobile dealers as “special registering authority” in the state to register new vehicles (with fully built body) that they sell to their customers.

Sahu, in the proposal, has also said that the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 empowers a state government to delegate its registering authority to any other individual/agency and some states, including Rajasthan and Delhi, have already delegated this authority to dealers.

“The department has sent a proposal to the government proposing designation of automobile dealers as special registering authority to register new vehicle, generate registration number for them, issue the high security registration plate and deposit tax, all under one roof, with people having no need to apply for the same to the RTO,” said a senior transport official requesting anonymity.

Under the current system, dealers act merely as an agent between the customer and the RTO with the latter generating and allotting the registration number to a vehicle after the owner applies for the same and pays the tax.

While the tax is paid online from the showroom itself on the purchase of a vehicle, one has to wait for a few days to get the registration number from the regional transport office.

“Once the dealers are appointed special registering authority, people will be able to get the registration number for their vehicle instantly after they purchase it from any showroom,” the official said.

A senior official in the government, however, said that the transport commissioner’s proposal needed to be vetted legally before the same was accepted and acted upon.

The amended Motor Vehicles Act, according to him, did not permit the government to delegate any of its functions, including registering authority, to any private individual or agency.

“Under Section 215 (B) of the MV (Amendment Act), both the Centre or the state government can delegate any power or functions that has been conferred upon it by the Act to any public servant or public authority to discharge any of its powers, functions and duties under the Act,” he pointed out.