It is official: The State government has decided not to allow employees working in the private sector to register their new vehicles under ‘Bharat Series’ (BH Series).
A notification with partial modification issued by the Transport Department on August 4 states that officers of the All India Services, employees of the Central Government in the post of inter-State transfer, officers working in banks, and officials/employees working in central government undertaking can register their vehicles under BH Series. There is no reference about private sector employees. The department has made partial modification to the notification that was issued on November 30, 2021.
The move is expected to upset employees working in the private sector.
The Central Government had implemented BH Series registration with effect from September 15, 2021. As per the notification brought out by the Central government, BH Series registration will ease transfer of vehicles when employees of Central government/State government/Public Sector Undertakings, and private sector companies having offices in four or more States relocate from one State to another. One registration number is valid throughout the country.
Recently, in his reply to the question raised by the MPs in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said: “Owner of the vehicle registered under BH Series is required to pay vehicle taxes every two years or in multiples of it to the State where it is located during that period, at 25% higher than the uniform rate as notified. In order to facilitate seamless transfer of such vehicles, BH Series is helpful not only to citizens but also in reducing the burden of RTOs which deal with such vehicle transfers.”
In the country, 24 States and Union Territories have started the registration of vehicles under the BH Series. In Karnataka, a total of 2,063 vehicles are registered under the BH Series, out of which, only eight are people working in the private sector.
Reasons for excluding private employees
The Transport Department officials say allowing registration under BH Series for private sector employees would result in revenue loss to the exchequer. An official of the department said that in the State, lifetime tax collected while registering private vehicles is 13% for cars costing below ₹5 lakh, 14% for cars ranging from ₹5 to ₹10 lakh, 17% for ₹10 to ₹20 lakh, and 18% for cars above ₹20 lakh. Under the BH Series, three slabs are fixed: 8% for vehicles below ₹10 lakh, 10% for vehicles ranging from ₹10 to ₹20 lakh, and 12% for vehicles above ₹20 lakh. For diesel vehicles, the tax is 2% extra, while it is 2% less for electric vehicles. The taxes under BH Series is levied for two years or in multiples of two.
The official said: “As per our calculation, if 1,000 private vehicles are registered in each tax slab under BH Series, we would incur loss of ₹22 crore. There are other issues also; employees working in private sector do not stick to a single company and it is difficult to establish as their organisation has offices in multiple States. Monitoring the violations is not an easy task. We have apprised these matters to the State government.”
Since the beginning, the Transport Department had reservations on allowing private sector employees to register under the BH Series.
