It was in this very column of BusinessLine way back in 2014 (updated in 2018), that this writer had proposed introduction of a “national” registration to overcome the pain points related to operating a private vehicle across different States.

The title of the article was “Reforming the RTO” which proposed a solution to the hassle of re-registration of vehicles for the increasingly mobile Indians across the country. Perhaps as a response to it, the government introduced the BH registration for vehicles in 2021.

Recently this writer was able to acquire a BH registration for his vehicle. During one of the conversations, this writer was asked if BH meant a Bihar State registered vehicle which was surprising. This article is an effort to disseminate information in depth regarding BH registration for vehicles.

Tedious process

Prior to introduction of BH series, if an individual got transferred to another State, it would mean getting an NOC from the State where the vehicle was originally registered which involved obtaining a police clearance first. Then one had to apply for a refund of the lifetime tax for the remaining period.

There was a fresh process of re-registering the vehicle in the new location along with the payment of life time tax again for the balance period. The new RTO verified the papers from the parent RTO. All this was a cumbersome and tedious procedure involving time, effort and money, multiple visits to RTO, navigating a maze of forms and finally not knowing when the new number would be allotted.

Not re-registering the vehicle was not acceptable to the new State of posting and invited fines on the road. Many individuals just sold their vehicles in the old State to avoid all these hassles. Now BH registration has removed all these obstacles. BH registered vehicles are allowed to ply all over the country without any problems. Central and State government employees, bank employees, defence personnel and private employees having a transferable job and working for organizations which had offices in at least four States are now eligible to apply for a BH registration.

The best part of the BH registration is that while buying a new vehicle, lifetime tax needs to be paid for two years only which leads to a saving of around a ₹1 lakh in the case of a new four-wheeler purchase. Subsequently, this tax needs to be paid after every block of two years.

It is to be noted that while filling up Form 60 (Working Certificate), the names and addresses along with GST number of each location for a minimum of four locations across different States needs to be provided along with the employee details. The form is available through the Parivahan Sewa portal of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India.

If the registration process is successfully completed as per the criterion above, an individual is allotted the BH registration which differs from the conventional registration and gives a unique feel.

The first two digits represent the year of the first registration, the next two alphabets are compulsorily BH followed by a four-digit computer generated number and then followed by an alphabet.

So to conclude, if you have a transferable job within India and want to operate the vehicle hassle free, BH registration is the way forward!

The writer is Deputy Director, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune. Views are personal.

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