A peculiar situation in vehicle registrations is creating problems for police and the State Road Transport Authority (RTA) officials in identifying vehicle owners.
Not transferring a vehicle’s registration onto one’s name after second-hand purchase is proving to be a major issue as it causes many complications in law and order and enforcement cases, say RTA officials.
“There was an IT professional who had sold his car to a businessman some years ago. The latter, after purchase, never got the vehicle transferred in his name. When he met with an accident after some time, the IT employee was named in the police case, though he was no way involved in the incident, simply because the car was on his name,” explained T. Raghunath, Joint Commissioner, RTA, Hyderabad.
Apart from that, when a traffic violation is committed by a driver and an e-challan is issued by the traffic police, the fine is sent to the address of the person on whose name the vehicle is registered.
“So if you have not transferred a bike’s name to yourself after purchase, all such challans will go to the past owner who has nothing to do with it,” mentioned a senior RTA official. The official further stated that, after selling one’s bike, he can pursue the purchaser to transfer the vehicle’s ownership to the latter’s name.
And in case it is not done, the former owner can also send a letter to the RTA and police, stating that the vehicle is no longer his, to avoid getting dragged into any criminal case that may ensue. “It is not just about transferring ownership. It is a very serious matter. The problem here is that we can’t identify such instances unless someone comes to us or some incident takes place. We are working with the police and will soon plan something,” said the official.
