Transport dept forms committee to standardise RTO procedures

Bhubaneswar: Following inconsistencies in the operations of regional transport offices (RTOs) that deviate from established protocols, the transport department has formed a seven-member committee to develop a standard operating procedure (SOP).“The committee will evaluate the current procedures used by RTOs for delivering public services and propose a uniform, transparent, and statutory process in accordance with Motor Vehicles law,” a senior transport official said.The committee comprises additional transport commissioner D R Patra, senior technical director (National Informatics Centre) P K Nayak, transport department’s joint director Tapan Kumar Mishra, additional commissioner (technical) S K Patnaik, joint transport commissioner B N Adhikari, and retired transport officials C R Ray and Lal Mohan Sethi.

They have been tasked with submitting their report within 15 days.It was observed that various RTOs employ inconsistent procedures when handling statutory transactions under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989. This lack of a standardised approach has led to divergent practices across districts, resulting in statutory violations and, in some cases, evasion of motor vehicle taxes.

The committee will review the procedures currently used by RTOs for statutory public service transactions, including the acceptance of NOCs from other states, address changes, reassignment of Odisha registration marks, issuance of new registration certificates in the name of financiers, transfer of ownership, vehicle inspections for fitness purposes, reassignment, and renewal of registration certificates, among others.The committee has been asked to propose a standardised, uniform, simple, and transparent procedure that strictly adheres to statutory provisions, thereby eliminating unauthorised or illegal cases and preventing revenue loss. They will recommend measures to recover evaded taxes identified in existing cases and suggest appropriate legal and administrative actions against officials and vehicle owners responsible for such irregularities.“The committee will propose ‘more visit less’ service mechanisms by optimising the existing ‘visit less’ transactions available in the transport department’s online service ecosystem,” the official said.