Now, Transport dept to record ownership type for ‘Divyangjan’ registered owners

The state Transport department will now record ownership type ‘Divyangjan’ for the registration of vehicles in the names of persons with benchmark disabilities so that the latter can avail various exemptions and facilities offered by the state government.

Tax payment will be totally exempted for ‘Divyangjan’ registered owners.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) introduced this category for persons with disabilities in October 2020.

In February this year, the MoRTH wrote to all state governments to extend various benefits to persons with benchmark disabilities. Saumitra Mohan, Secretary of the state Transport department has issued a notification directing all registering authorities to act accordingly. Vehicles owned by people with 40 per cent disability are eligible for registration under the ‘Divyangjan’ category.

Persons with disabilities who own a vehicle and hire a driver cannot be deprived of getting vehicle registration under the ‘Divyangjan’ category. This means that now the ownership of the vehicle and not the type of vehicle will be the deciding factor for registration under ‘Divyangjan’ category.

A vehicle owner having registration in this category will get facilities like exemptions from paying tolls on highways as well as GST exemptions.

These persons need to get a ‘zero transaction’ or free FASTag for their vehicles from National Highways Authority of India.

As per 2011 census, nearly 2.7 crore population has disability. However, a very small percentage of them own vehicles.