NEW DELHI, Aug 28: The central government has introduced a new “Bharat Series” (BH-Series) for making the inter-state transfer of vehicles easier for the Public and private sector employees on transferrable jobs.
An official spokesman of the government said on Saturday that to ensure seamless transfer of personal vehicles across states, the road transport ministry has come up Bharat Series (BH-series) mark for new vehicles.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways notified this change through a notification dated August 26, 2021. It read, “A vehicle bearing this registration mark shall not require assignment of a new registration mark when the owner of the vehicle shifts from one state to another.”
This new vehicle registration facility under ‘Bharat series (BH-series)’ will be available on a voluntary basis to defence personnel, employees of central government/ state government/ central/ state public sector undertakings and private sector companies/organisations, which have their offices in four or more states/union territories,” the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) said in a statement. This is only applicable to new vehicles.
The format of BH-series registration mark will be YY BH #### XX. YY denotes the year of first registration, BH is code for Bharat Series, #### is the randomised four-digit number and XX are two alphabets. In case, where the vehicle bears BH-series registration mark, the motor vehicle tax shall be levied electronically. The registration mark for BH-series vehicle will be generated randomly through an online portal.
Eight percent motor vehicle tax will be levied on non-transport vehicles costing under Rs 10 lakh; 10 percent on vehicles costing between Rs 10-20 lakh; and 12 percent on vehicles costing above Rs 20 lakh. An additional 2 percent extra charge will be levied in case of diesel vehicles. Electric vehicle owners will get a tax rebate of 2 percent in their respective category, the statement said.
The new system will considerably ease the current transfer system requiring new registration with the local regional transport office within a year of every transfer entailing huge and complicated paper works.
(Manas Dasgupta)