Govt formalises registration process of vintage motor vehicles

With an aim to preserve and promote the heritage of vintage vehicles, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said his ministry has formalised the registration process of vintage motor vehicles in India. The draft rules define vintage motor vehicles as all those vehicles that are two-wheelers and four-wheelers and are more than 50 years old from the date of their first registration (including imported vehicle).

New Delhi: Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said his ministry has formalised the registration process of vintage motor vehicles in India for promoting and preserving the heritage of such vehicles. The Centre in November last year had said it intends to formalise the registration process of the vintage motor vehicles, and had sought public comments for proposed rules regarding this.

"With an aim to preserve and promote the heritage of vintage vehicles, the MoRTH has formalised the registration process of vintage motor vehicles in India," Gadkari said in a series of tweets. With no existing rules for regulating the process of registration across different states, he said the new rules shall provide a hassle-free process along with salient features such as retention of old number for already-registered vehicles and a 'VA' series (unique registration mark) for fresh registrations. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had invited public comments for proposed rules on registering vintage vehicles.

The draft rules define vintage motor vehicles as all those vehicles that are two-wheelers and four-wheelers (non-commercial and personal use) and are more than 50 years old from the date of their first registration (including imported vehicle). There is a restriction in the definition — no substantial overhaul of the vehicles that includes modification in chassis or body shell, and/or engine. A vintage motor vehicle is allowed to run on Indian roads only for display, technical research or taking part in a vintage car rally, refuelling and maintenance, exhibitions, vintage rallies, and to and fro to such exhibition or car rally.

According to a Road Transport and Highways Ministry statement, application for registration/re-registration shall be made as per Form 20 and shall be accompanied by an insurance policy, fee, bill of entry in case of imported vehicles, and old RC in case of an already registered vehicle in India. It further said that the State Registering Authority shall issue a certificate of registration as per Form 23A, within 60 days. According to the statement, vehicles already registered can retain their original Registration Mark.

"However, for fresh registration, registration mark will be assigned as “XX VA YY*”, where VA stands for vintage, XX stands for State Code, YY will be a two-letter series and “8” is a number from 0001 to 9999 allotted by the State Registering Authority," it said. The statement said fees for a new registration will Rs 20,000 and Rs 5,000 for subsequent re-registration. The government had said the objective is to preserve and promote the heritage of old vehicles in India.

PTI