NEW DELHI: The central government has taken a significant step towards doing away with the practice of changing registration number if a vehicle is shifted from one state to another.
A new series of registration number has been introduced by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for the purpose.
The Ministry, vide notification dated August 26, has introduced a new registration mark, Bharat series (BH-series), for new vehicles. A vehicle bearing this registration mark shall not require assignment of a new registration mark when the owner shifts from one state to another and takes the vehicle along.
Format of BH-series registration Mark will be YY BH #### XX (YY for year of first registration, BH is Code for Bharat Series, #### is the randomised four digit number and XX are two alphabets).
Vehicle registration facility under the BH-series will be available to defence personnel, employees of central government and state government, central and state public sector undertakings and private sector organisations having offices in four or more states/union territories.
For vehicles opting for BH-series registration the motor vehicle tax will be levied for two years or in multiple of two. Objective of the scheme is to facilitate free movement of personal vehicles across states/UTs of the country upon relocation to a new state/UT. After completion of the fourteenth year, the motor vehicle tax shall be levied annually which shall be half of the amount which was charged earlier for that vehicle.
Under the existing law, a person is allowed to keep his/her vehicle for up to 12 months only in any state other than where the vehicle is registered. New registration with the new state-registering authority has to be made within 12 months.
Re-registering the vehicle entails obtaining No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the parent state, assignment of new registration mark after the road tax on pro rata basis is paid in the new state and apply for refund of the road tax in the parent state on pro rata basis.
The process of securing refund from the parent state is cumbersome and varies from one state to another.