New Central Motor Vehicles Rules now allow the owner of a vehicle to nominating a person in the registration certificate
There is a new regulation issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways with regard to transfer of vehicle ownership in case of owner’s death.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified certain changes in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 that allow the owner of a vehicle to nominate a person in the registration certificate. This would make vehicle transference to the nominee in the event of death of the owner are seamless considering the current bulk of paperwork or other formalities.
Until now, this process was not uniform across the country and involved different legal procedures/obligations to be followed which were both expensive and cumbersome, and time consuming. It also involved visits to various offices to get the transfer of ownership legalized, and often led to malpractices and procedures not being followed scrupulously.
According to the new regulations, at the time of purchase itself, the owner can put the name of the nominee on the RC registration papers of the vehicle. If not done at the time of purchase of the vehicle, details can also be uploaded later through online application.
The owner will have to submit proof of identity of the nominee and upon demise, the person nominated can get complete possession of the vehicle and use of the vehicle as if it has been transferred to him. The only condition is that the nominee will have to inform the registering authority of the owner’s death within 30 days, and of his intention to now use the vehicle as his own.
Form 31 to Transfer Ownership
Another formality to be fulfilled by the nominee is that Form 31 will have to be filled in and submitted within a period of 3 months from the death of the owner of the vehicle, so that the transfer of ownership is completed. Thus the change in the Motor Vehicle Rules is expected to make the procedure easier and less time consuming.
Change of Nominee
In the event of the owner wanting to change the name of the nominee during his lifetime, the same can be done with an agreed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).The government has invited suggestions and comments from public and all stakeholders on the proposed amendment.
Another system that will simplify the process of transfer and re-registration of vehicles is proposed to be launched by the Central Government. Under these rules, all personal vehicles owned by Defence personnel, employees of Central and State Governments, private sector companies and organizations that have their offices at 5 or more states can be registered under the “IN” series on a pilot test mode. These employees are often transferred to different states and such movement causes confusion with regard to transfer of registration from one state to another.
At present, the rule states that a person has to pay 15 years road tax while registering a personal vehicle. If they have to transfer their vehicles to another state within that period they need to pay road tax for the remaining years and then re-claim the amount already paid to the state where the vehicle has been originally registered. This was a lengthy process and hence the new regulation was proposed to ease the process.
