The Centre has announced BH, a new vehicle registration mark that would apply across the country. Standing for 'Bharat series', the new registration code can be voluntarily opted by defence personnel, Central, state and PSU staffers, as well those in the private sector whose companies have branches in more than four states.
Apart from registration for armed forces vehicles, and discounting diplomatic and UN registrations, this is the first centrally-issued registration mark. While road transport is in the concurrent list of the constitution, personal transport is a state subject.
According to a note by the ministry of road transport issued this week, the new BH series has been introduced since vehicle owners moving from one state to another on transfer are faced with a “cumbersome process” that “varies from state to state”. The IT-based BH series can be registered and all requisite taxes paid in one go for up to two years to “facilitate seamless transfer of vehicles.”
“This scheme will facilitate movement of personal vehicles across state/UTs of India upon relocation to a new state/UT,” according to the government note.
The registration format will be (year of first registration) followed by BH followed by a mix of randomised alphabets (2) and numbers (4). It is not clear whether state RTOs will issue the BH registration mark also, or whether a separate central government mechanism will be used for the same. If the latter, it will also be interesting to see how state governments will react, considering the already burning matter of the central government encroaching into areas that are the prerogative of states, like health and co-operative societies.
