Govt doubles cost of renewal of registration of 20-yr-old vehicles

NEw new delhi: The unification regime has doubled the be of restorative registration of vehicles older than 20 years across India, except the National Capital Region.The cost of renewing registration for motorcycles, three-wheelers, and light motor vehicles older than 15 years will be ₹2,000, ₹5,000, and ₹10,000, respectively. The cost of renewing imported two-to three-wheeled vehicles older than 20 years will be ₹20,000 and imported four-wheelers will be ₹80,000. All these fees are exclusive of GST, a gazette notification issued on Wednesday said.These changes were affected by amending the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 and a draft notification was issued in February for the same proposing these changes.These changes are likely to nudge old vehicle owners to shift towards newer and less polluting vehicles.In Delhi NCR, the Supreme Court in a 2018 judgment had upheld a NGT directive which banned end-of-life vehicles (15 years and older for petrol and 10 years and older for diesel vehicles). Currently, the issue of such old vehicles is being heard by the Supreme Court again. In an interim order, the apex court asked authorities not to take any coercive action.Aadhar linking on Vahan, Sarathi portalsStarting in August, many vehicle owners and driving licence holders were sent SMS alerts urging them to update and confirm their mobile numbers through the Aadhaar authentication process on Vahan and Sarathi databases maintained by the ministry. Since then, many citizens have questioned the legality, asking if the same will be used for surveillance.HT could not reach an official to explain why this was being asked for or how binding it is.However, an office memorandum by the ministry dated July 4 said a significant number of vehicle owners and driving licence holders have not updated their mobile numbers in the Vahan and Sarathi database. As a result, important service-related alerts, messages, and statutory notices are not reaching the intended recipients, thereby hindering timely compliance and necessary action, it added. Further, it said that the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has been entrusted with the task of capturing and updating the communication details, particularly mobile numbers of vehicle owners and Driving Licence Holders in the relevant database to ensure accurate and timely dissemination of information.Meanwhile, Software Freedom Law Centre, a leading non-profit advocating digital rights and privacy, has written to MoRTH on the issue, asking for alternative mechanisms without Aadhaar authentication. They also asked the ministry to refrain from making Aadhaar linkage mandatory in any form, whether directly or indirectly, for availing transport-related services, and stated that the decision to authenticate driving licence and other transport-related services through Aadhaar is strictly voluntary, as established in the K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2018) judgement by the Supreme Court.