Why new BH-series for vehicles is a boon for travelling professionals

People in transferrable jobs have to go through the painful process of re-registration of a vehicle while moving from one state to another.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has developed an IT-based solution for vehicle registration to simplify transfer between states.

What is the current vehicle re-registration process?

At present, a vehicle owner moving to another state has to re-register (which includes changing the vehicle registration number) his vehicle under section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. A person can keep the vehicle for not more than 12 months in any state other than the state where the vehicle is registered, but a new registration with the new state registering authority has to be made within the stipulated time of 12 months.

The re-registration process is tedious. The vehicle owner needs a No Objection Certificate from the parent state for assignment of a new registration mark in another state. Besides, the owner has to pay the road tax on prorata basis to the new state. An application needs to be made in the parent state for refund of the road tax on pro rata basis. This process is very cumbersome and time consuming.

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Introduction of BH-series

To make it easy for vehicle owners to shift from one state to another, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has introduced a new registration mark for new vehicles i.e. “Bharat series (BH-series)”.

A vehicle bearing BH-series registration mark shall not require assignment of a new registration mark when the owner of the vehicle shifts from one state to another.

Format of BH-series registration mark:

YY BH #### XX

Where,

YY stands for – Year of first registration

BH- Code for Bharat Series

####- 0000 to 9999 (randomized)

XX- Alphabets (AA to ZZ)

The new vehicle registration facility will be available on voluntary basis to defence personnel, employees of Central Government/ State Government/ Central/ State Public Sector Undertakings and private sector companies/organizations, which have their offices in four or more states/union territories. This provision is applicable to new vehicles only.

The motor vehicle tax will be levied for two years or in multiple of two. After completion of the 14th year, the motor vehicle tax shall be levied annually which shall be half of the amount which was charged earlier for that vehicle.

Other charges to get BH-series number

Eight per cent motor vehicle tax will be levied on non-transport vehicles costing under Rs 10 lakh; 10 per cent on vehicles costing between Rs 10-20 lakh; and 12 per cent on vehicles costing above Rs 20 lakh.

An additional 2 per cent extra charge will be levied for diesel vehicle. Electric vehicle owners will get a tax rebate of 2 per cent.