A one-time amnesty for unregistered vehicles and vehicles yet to be transferred to current owners will be announced by the Excise and Taxation Department in a few weeks, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The amnesty will be for a specific period of time and there will be no relaxation after the deadline.
Excise and Taxation Department officials told The Express Tribune that thousands of vehicles in the province had not been registered for several years. Their owners hesitated to approach the department fearing unaffordable fines. However, it is illegal to travel without registration documents and only vehicles travelling between showrooms or from dryports to showrooms are exempt.
Trade certificates issued for the exempt vehicles are not a substitute for registration, the officials explained. Car dealers often provide their clients the trade certificates to use till they got their vehicles registered. Vehicle owners are not fined if they get their vehicles registered within 60 days of purchase. They are fined Rs3,000 for 240 days after that deadline expires. The fine increases to Rs5,000 after that.
The officials said the planned amnesty would allow vehicle owners to register their vehicles without any fines.
Registration of vehicles would be allowed with old, even expired, Transfer Order forms during the period, the officials said. Many vehicles are yet to be registered in their owners’ names, the officials said. Previously, a vehicle owner could sell his car and give its new owner an open transfer letter. This allowed the owner to claim that the vehicle was ‘first-hand’, which would be advantageous to its resale value.
The officials said that the department had later introduced transfer deeds that expired in 30 days. These deeds were issued against the vehicle number. The officials said that people would then purchase a new deed for Rs300 every 30 days. They would also have to produce the signature, the CNIC and thumbprint of the vehicle’s previous owner. By allowing registrations on old and expired transfer orders, the department hopes to get thousands of vehicles registered.
Over the phone
The department is launching its SMS service [to obtain ownership record of vehicles] next week. The SMS code, which has been tested by for almost three weeks now, might be modified after its launch.
Excise and Taxation Director General Naseem Sadiq said the service will enable people to check the records of the vehicles they have previously sold.
He said this should encourage the new owners to register the vehicles in their own names.
He said after the amnesty deadline expired, law enforcement officials would be told to take strict action against owners of vehicles travelling without registration documents. He said the SMS service was the first step towards computerising the department’s operations.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2014.