Nearly 60,000 BS-III fuel compliant two-wheelers that were sold across the country on or before 31 March this year are plying unregistered and buyers of these vehicles are running from pillar to post to get them registered with the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) concerned.
According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Associations (FADA), the registration problem emerged after the Supreme Court on 29 March this year imposed a ban on the sale and registration of BS-III fuel compliant vehicles from 1 April 2017.
Most of these vehicles were sold by “non-self registered dealers” who cover 50% of the two-wheeler market share. “The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) had allowed only those vehicles to be registered whose sales tax also has been paid by 31 March. While self-registered dealers can easily pay the taxes online, others have to make the payment by visiting the motor licencing offices. The registered dealers are those directly linked to the RTOs and register their sale online. On the other hand, non-registered dealers depend on manual registration. The confusion in registration of BS-III vehicle emerged after the directive of the EPCA in which it had asked state secretaries to allow registration of vehicles sold on or before 31 March only if the buyers of these vehicles had paid tax to the RTOs concerned. Since the directive, the RTOs have not registered any BS-III compliant vehicle,” Gulshan Ahuja, general secretary of FADA, told The Sunday Guardian.
“No clauses regarding the payment of taxes were mentioned in the SC order and sale was opened before and on 31 March; therefore, the RTOs should allow registration on the basis of purchase invoice,” Ahuja said.
“In Delhi alone, there are 954 BS-III compliant two-wheelers that were sold after the Supreme Court order of 29 March and are plying without registration. These motorcycle owners are also putting pressure on the distributors to get their registration card,” Ahuja added.
A senior RTO official said: “The RTOs of Delhi are seeking legal opinion on the issue of registration of these vehicles. The transport department is going to write to the EPCA, seeking clarity on the issue.” “Mostly, transactions on the sale of BS-III two-wheelers are done in cash, making it difficult for RTO officials to verify the actual date of purchase of the vehicles. The EPCA had issued notices and since then, the RTOs have stopped the registration to curb these practises,” the RTO official said.
Mohit Jain, director of Jain Auto in South-west Delhi, said: “The buyers who have bought BS-III compliant vehicles are putting pressure on dealers for registration, but the dealers have no say in the process of registration.”
According to the FADA, a total inventory of 824,000 BS-III compliant vehicles was in the stock of dealers, out of which 96,000 were commercial vehicles, whereas 6.88 lakh were two-wheelers, and 40,000 three-wheelers.