Motor Vehicle and Ownership transfer through Nomination: MoRTH New Guidelines

The Authors, Arvind Sharma and Shambhavi Goswami are Law Students at University School of Law and Legal Studies, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has released certain amended rules and regulations in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules,1989 in order to ease the process for the holder/owner of a motor vehicle for nominating an individual in the enlistment testament through an (RC) registration certificate, which would ultimately assist the transfer of the vehicle to the person so nominated, in the event of the demise of the actual or the original holder/owner of the motor vehicle.

Previously, The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), had given a proposal on November 2020 in order to amend the existing Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 to make the process convenient and user friendly for the owner/holder of a motor vehicle for the nomination of an individual in case of his demise in the certificate of registration.

According to the new rule, the nominee can be added by the owner both at the time of registration or at any later stage of the vehicle’s life through an online application.

This will make the process that used to be time-consuming and involved legal documentation less complicated by reducing the complexities and making it more convenient for the owners/holders.

How to nominate a person and the procedure?

1. At the time of nomination, the owner would be required to furnish a valid Identity proof of the person so nominated.
2. The individual nominated has to, within thirty days of the demise of the holder, have to notify the concerned RTO regarding the same with his intention to utilize such vehicle for his own purposes. With the death certificate of the owner.
3. After this, the individual nominated from the passing of the original owner of the vehicle has the right to use the vehicle as though it has been temporarily transferred to him for a duration of three months.
4. Within three months after the death of the original owner, the nominee shall apply in Form 31, to the RTO or other such authority for the final transfer of ownership of the vehicle in his name.
5.  A new certificate of registration (RC) is assigned to the nominee selected in advance by the owner/holder of the motor vehicle within 30 days after the submission of the required documents such as the identity proof and other essential documents as notified with the RTO.
6. In case the nominee needs to be changed in instances like the division of the property or divorce the owner can alter the nomination with a mutual agreement by operating a standard procedure.

As of now, the procedure currently in practice in the context of the demise of the owner of a vehicle is rusty and outdated as it requires complicated documentation and conforming to various rules and regulations that is also listed differently by different states and RTO’s which makes the process more complex and eventually involves a lot of paperwork and thereby there is a need to go back and forth to different offices which wastes a lot of time and labor.

The steps taken would help the vehicle owners to easily nominate a person without complying with many formalities and documentation which would ensure the transfer of the vehicle after the death smoothly and would eventually make the entire process more transparent and easier in its function.