The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has notified new changes done to the Motor Vehicle Act. According to the change, vehicle owners can now nominate a successor during the registration process. The new move will allow vehicle owners to pass on the vehicle in case of death.

MoRTH has made the changes after numerous people faced hassles to transfer the registration of the vehicle to another person after death. The new rules will allow people to declare nominees for the successor, similar on the lines of the bank accounts and other finance-related accounts.

The owner of the vehicle can provide the nominee name at the time of registration. However, if the vehicle is already registered, they can simply add the name of the nominee and other details by filling out an online application. This will automatically transfer the ownership to the nominee when the death certificate is presented to the authorities.

Transfer of vehicle is a cumbersome process

Currently, to transfer a vehicle after the owner’s death, a lot of processes need to be followed. Different states and RTOs have different processes listed, which makes it even more complicated.  However, the current general rule is that the person has to submit proof of identity of the nominee for verification to nominate anyone who will be the legal heir of the vehicle in case of death.

With the change in the rule and amendment in the processes, the pre-chosen nominee will now be able to file for transfer of registration through an online portal. A fresh certificate of registration will be provided to the pre-selected nominee within 30 days of submitting proofs and related documents with the RTO.

Transferring commercial vehicles at the moment is a massive pain in India. In case of the death of the owner, many dependents keep on shuttling from department to department to get approval and transfer the name. In the process, many vehicles even lose permits.

Officials have also said that there is a provision to change the nominee in contingency arising out of special circumstances. Like divorce, division of property or transfer of assets without sale may be arrived at with an agreed Standard Operating Procedure or SOP. The owners of the vehicles can do such nominations.

Since the MoRTH has already notified about the changes in the MV Act, the new laws are effective at the present. In the past, MoRTH has amended the MV Act to increase the fine amount for offences to discourage road users from violating the traffic rules and laws. The new amendment also has a provision to send the violators to jail and has increased the fine amount on common offences like triple riding, no helmet, no seatbelt and more. In fact, the drinking driving challan has increased by multiple folds and there is even jail time for repeat offenders.