New Changes in Motor Vehicle Rules for Vehicle Ownership Transfer will facilitate More Ease & Uniformity

Recently, the Road Ministry has brought to notice, few changes in the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.The new changes would help facilitate the vehicle owner to nominate an individual in the registration certificate; this would in turn help the motor vehicle to be registered or to be transferred in the name of the nominee, in case of death of the owner.

Now, the owner would be able to put the name of the nominee during the time of the registration of the vehicle purchased and they would also be able to add the nominee name in the online application.

This new change would help the vehicle ownership transfer process to become less cumbersome and across the nation, there will be uniformity.

As per the new notified Motor vehicle rules, the vehicle owner must submit proof of identity of the nominee, in case they have mentioned the name of the nominee.

If the owner of the motor vehicle dies, the individual who has been nominated by the vehicle owner in the registration certification or the individual succeeding to the possession of the vehicle, as the case might be, may for period of 3 months from the death of the owner of the motor vehicle, use the vehicle as if it has been transferred to him/her. Provided that individual has, within a period of 30 days of the death of the owner of the motor vehicle, has informed the registering authority of the occurrence of the death of the owner and of his own intention to use the vehicle, the notification stated.

The Ministry proposes to offer nominee details in vehicle RCs in order to ease the ownership transfer in case of death.

It further stated that, the nominee or person succeeding to the possession of the vehicle shall apply in Form 31 within the period of three months from the death of the owner of the motor vehicle, to the registering authority for the transfer of ownership of the vehicle in his/her name.

For a change in a nominee, in case of varied contingencies such as divorce or division of property, the owner might change the nomination with an agreed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), it added.

Presently, in case of death of a registered owner of a vehicle, the procedure to transfer the vehicle to nominee does require complying with a raft of procedures as well as frequent visits to the varied offices.

Discussions on Proposed Amendment

On November 27, 2020, the Ministry of Road Transport as well as Highways has come up with a proposal to amend the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, so that, they can facilitate the owner of a vehicle in order to nominate an individual in the registration certificate.

The government, has begun inviting suggestions as well as comments from the public as well as stakeholders on the proposed amendments, it has stated.

According to new proposed amendment, an additional clause has been proposed which would be inserted, wherein the proof of identity of the nominee, if any, so that it would enable the owner to nominate any individual to be the legal heir for the vehicle, in case death happens, it has stated.

For transferring the vehicle to the legal heir in case no nominee has been specified by the owner, it has proposed that additional clause might be inserted in order to enable the owner to nominate a nominee.

In case, where the nominee has been already specified, the vehicle would be transferred in his/her name.