Karnataka Govt ordered to give BH registration for private vehicles

The High Court of Karnataka directed the State government to implement the Bharat (BH) series registration to the non-transport vehicles of the employees of private companies. The BH series registration is one time and it permits registration holders to relocate to any State in the country without the need for re-registration.

Bengaluru (Karnataka):The High Court of Karnataka directed the State government to implement the Bharat (BH) series registration to the non-transport vehicles of the employees of private companies as per the motor vehicle law amended by the Central government in August 2021. Justice C M Poonacha passed this order while allowing the petitions filed by T Shalini, an employee of Accenture Solutions Pvt Limited, and others.

The court's latest order will allow registration of vehicles under the Bharat (BH) series for select private sector employees. The BH series registration is one time and it permits registration holders to relocate to any State in the country without the need for re-registration. The Centre has come out with this considering the time-consuming process of re-registering vehicles.

The petitioner approached the court after the State Transport Department, by a circular issued on December 20, 2021, had extended the benefit of the BH series only to the vehicles owned by the officers of All India Services, Central Government employees holding posts of inter-State transfer, and bank officers holding posts of inter-State transfer.

In the statement of objections, the state government had claimed that most of the employees working in the private sector are on a contract basis and they are frequently shifting from one company to another according to their convenience and hike in remuneration.

The union government defended the amended rules and August 26, 2021 notification claiming that BH series registration applies voluntarily to the defense personnel, employees of central government/state government/central/state public sector undertakings, and private sector companies/ organizations, which have their offices in four or more states/union territories.

The Court said that the State government will have to implement the amended rule notified on August 26, 2021, for the registration of vehicles of private companies under the BH series.