Kerala will formally join the Transport Mission Mode Project’s flagship uniform pan-India applications ‘Vahan’ for vehicle registration and ‘Sarathi’ for driving licence on November 7.
The web applications, developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, promise efficient service, transparency, and easy access of all data related to vehicle and driving licences.
The applications can capture all information mandated by the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and State Motor Vehicle Rules. An NIC team from Delhi is in the Transport Commissionerate, finetuning the integration of the data of vehicles and driving licences of motorists of the State to Vahan and Sarathi.
From Wednesday
From November 7, the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) at Thiruvananthapuram and Wayanad, offices of the Joint RTOs at Kattakada, Mananthavady, Iritty, Nanmanda, Sulthan Bathery, Perambra, and Vellarikundu will switch over to Sarathi. In the third week of November, the offices of the Joint RTOs at Attingal, Kazhakuttam, and Kattakada will use Vahan. “The applications will be available in the other MVD offices soon. The ultimate aim is to make the 79 MVD offices paperless and reduce footfall,” Transport Commissioner K. Padmakumar told The Hindu on Saturday.
Police and banks
The police will have access to the registry and information available online and it can help resolve crimes involving vehicles. Enforcement activities such as issue of challans and settlement of penalty amount can also be carried out.
Banks, which may have provided loans for buying vehicles, have been given access. Allotment of fancy numbers will be through online bidding and the applicants can participate from even abroad. “This will ensure transparency, plug revenue loss, and end unholy nexus between the participants,” Mr. Padmakumar said.
Those selling motor vehicles will have to surrender the RC book to the RTO along with the valid address proof of the buyer. The RC book will be cancelled and returned to the seller while a new RC book will be issued to the buyer from the RTO of the location of the buyer’s residence.
Four-digit registration marks will come into effect and permits will be issued only after producing the vehicles. “This will put an end to the sale of permits,” the Transport Commissioner said. A mobile app, ‘mParivahan’, is also available. With Vahan, multiple visits to the RTO, extensive paperwork, queues, middlemen, and bribes will be a thing of the past.
Over 23 crore vehicle records and 11 crore licence records are in the repository.
