Key Facts

Findings from the Ease of Vehicle Ownership Index:

• Top Rankings: Andhra Pradesh ranked 1st (5.91 score), Kerala ranked 2nd (5.83 score), followed by Gujarat in the top three.
• Weakest Parameter: Affordability of road taxes and opaque local cess levies were identified as the weakest parameters across Indian states.
• Tax Refund Pioneers: Andhra Pradesh and Telangana emerged as the only two states offering streamlined online road tax refunds when a vehicle owner relocates to another state.
• Digital Integration: High adoption of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Vahan and Sarathi digital databases significantly improved processing times in top-ranking states.

GK Context

• Motor vehicle registration and vehicular taxation in India are governed under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, read with the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.
• While vehicle registration and safety norms fall under the Union List / Concurrent domain, motor vehicle taxation is an entry in the State List (List II) of the Seventh Schedule.

Static GK

• To end the hassle of re-registering vehicles when citizens move across state borders, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways introduced the 'BH' (Bharat Series) registration mark in September 2021.
• BH series registration is available for defense personnel, central and state government employees, and private sector employees having offices in four or more states/UTs.

UPSC Mains Framework

GS Paper II (Governance, e-Governance & Federal Structure): Critically analyze the challenges in harmonizing motor vehicle taxation and RTO service delivery across Indian states. How does the Bharat (BH) series facilitate inter-state labor mobility?