State eases rules to deregister scrapped or lost vehicles

Kolkata: The Bengal government has directed modification of the VAHAN web application to allow cancellation of registration of scrapped, lost, or unusable vehicles without validity checks of documents, except for tax, subject to specific conditions.

The order, issued by state Transport secretary Saumitra Mohan, said the decision was taken after the department received several applications for permit renewal where vehicles had already been scrapped by permit holders without informing the Registering Authority (RA) or the Permit Issuing Authority.

Until now, the VAHAN system did not allow endorsement of a new vehicle against an existing permit unless the backlog data of the scrapped vehicle was cleared. Backlog entry, however, became impossible once documents such as fitness certificate, insurance, tax and pollution certificate had expired. Citing provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which empower state governments to cancel registration without inquiry or validation of documents, the Transport department ordered the modification.

For transport vehicles, penalties may be imposed if scrapping is done without informing the RA. Owners must submit an indemnity bond furnishing details of the vehicle and accepting legal and financial liability, in addition to paying due tax and additional tax up to the date of endorsing a replacement vehicle with the permit. For non-transport vehicles, cancellation will require either an insurer’s total loss report or an indemnity bond from the owner accepting responsibility for future litigation.