All of you must be aware that while purchasing the new motor vehicle, your vehicle is registered for specified number of years, presently this is for 15 years .Beyond that if you want to use the vehicle you have to get the vehicle certified for the fitness, and pay the renewal fees , for personal cars this renewal is valid for 5 years and for commercial for one year. Presently fees for renewal is very nominal, but as per new policy this fees is going to be increased substantially .
As per this new policy the fitness certificate fee for commercial vehicles that are more than 15 years old, will increase from the current Rs 200 to Rs 7500 for cabs, Rs 10,000 for medium and Rs 12,500 for heavy commercial vehicles. For 2 wheelers it is going to be Rs 1000 and for 4 wheelers Rs 5000, which is about 8 times for more than the existing fees. Along with this, states will impose green tax, which the vehicle owner will have to pay. For scrapping the vehicles, transport ministry is also going to announce new laws shortly.
Presently for commercial vehicles, renewal of fitness certificate is mandatory annually , once the vehicle is more than 8 years old. Hiked fees will come into operation, when vehicles are 15 years old. Paying such a very high fees for renewal will discourage people to keep their old vehicles, as for commercial vehicles the renewal be for one year only. Plus every year they will have to pay green tax, which can be 10 to 25% of renewal fees.
For private cars holding onto cars which are more than 15 years old can also become expensive, as renewal is valid only for 5 years. So after every 5 years they will have to spend money for repairs to get the vehicle in fit condition so that it passes automatic fitness test to make renewal for next 5 years become possible. Plus with every renewal green tax will also have to be paid. This can work as disincentive for vehicle owners.
In both the cases (commercial and private), vehicles failing in automatic fitness test will be automatically de registered. From the central database of vehicles. On the face of it, new policy looks very good. But the biggest challenge for the govt will be to implement the same because of the lack of infrastructure for doing the same. Presently there are only 7 automated fitness test centres which in operation, out of 25 sanctioned, and there are only 2 authorised scrapping centres in India. To implement these laws there have to be many more fitness centres along with more authorised scrapping centres.
My only fear is that , with this new policy there is every chance of rise in corruption because in every city the RTO office is found to be most corrupt department. I know about the cases where your renewal of registration & fitness can be done without any inspection of vehicle, by paying certain fees under the table through some agents. Now with the increased fees for renewal, the under the table charges will also go up. Same way your driving license also can be renewed without going to RTO in your zone.
So unless the infrastructure is there in operation and RTO department is free from corruption, the implementation of this new vehicle laws may not be feasible, for the purpose for which laws are being introduced. In that main reason is to reduce pollution which happens due to old vehicles and have the green environment to reduce the carbon footprint. Secondly there is going to stiff resistance from transport sector, specially owners of cabs and other commercial vehicles to get the fitness and renewal every year beyond 15 years, as they are already paying the same every year after the age of 8 years of vehicle, yes presently the renewal fees is very less, but their argument will be with high fuel cost, the operating cost are already too high, and with EMI on vehicle loans, they will find difficult to sustain their business.
For the senior citizens to maintain their vehicles will be very difficult, as they do not operate the vehicle on daily basis and secondly getting fitness certificate for renewal will be very trouble some. Take the case of young guy, who has purchased the car at the age of 30 so if he runs the car for15 years on daily basis his car will register more KMs as compared to a senior citizen who has purchased the car at the age of 60 after his retirement, his KM running will be definitely much less than the earlier case.
So in my opinion fitness should be checked on the basis how much KM the vehicle has run in the specified time.
Waiting for your views and comments.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
3rd February 2021.
R. N. Mungale.
I agree with Mr. Malik.