Mumbai: Automobile dealers in Maharashtra can now register commercial vehicles—including tourist taxis, goods-carrying autorickshaws, pickups, and tempos—directly at their premises. This change follows a circular issued by the state 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).
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 diligently adhere to vehicle safety norms.
Until now, dealers in the state were only authorised to register non-transport vehicles like private cars and two-wheelers - with white number plates.
According to the latest circular by the transport department, "As per the provisions of the said rule, the authority to register tourist taxis (excluding metered taxis), three-wheeled fully built goods vehicles, and four-wheeled fully built goods vehicles with a GVW of less than 7,500 kg is also being granted to the operators." The circular excludes metered taxis, which means RTOs will continue to play a role in their registration..
For "Dealer Registration", the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has developed an online application as part of the VAHAN 4.0 system, which stores the registration details of vehicles across the country. Dealers in the state will use this system to register the light commercial vehicles at their end.
Annually, over 2 lakh commercial vehicles are registered at RTOs in Maharashtra. In 2023, more than 23.63 lakh vehicles were registered across the state, of which 2.45 lakh were commercial vehicles, including taxis, autorickshaws, buses, and heavy trucks.
Some senior RTO officials, however, are upset with the decision of the Transport Commissioner's office to hand over the registration of commercial vehicles to the dealers. They claimed that the circular was issued without consulting RTOs or field offices of the department and ignoring passenger and road safety aspects.
A senior RTO official, who did not wish to be named, said that during the registration of commercial vehicles, Motor Vehicle Inspectors check various passenger and road safety features. He doubted if these aspects would be taken seriously by the dealers.
"In my opinion, commercial vehicles for which fitness certification is mandatory should be compulsorily registered at the RTO office," the official said.
According to the RTO official, devices like panic buttons, speed governors, FASTag, and GPS are currently a must for commercial vehicles. RTO inspectors ensure that new vehicles are fitted with genuine devices, but they are unsure if this will be verified at the dealer's end, he said.
A Motor Vehicle 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 on behalf of automobile manufacturers. However, many newly registered vehicles can be seen on state roads without HSRP, he said.
According to a deputy RTO officer, it is unjustified that RTO officers are required to sign the registration certificates as the "registering authority" without even seeing the vehicle.
"If dealers are doing everything, then why is the RTO required to sign the certificates as the registering authority? Make the dealers the registering authority as well. If, as RTO officers, we are the registering authority, we should inspect the vehicle at the time of registration," the official said.
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 the RTOs.
Transporters said they are happy with the decision as it will save them time and money and provide relief from engaging with agents during the registration of vehicles at RTOs.
