For car registration, go the rigmarole way!
H. Kishie Singh

THERE are some experiences that can leave a person exasperated, bewildered, confused and depressed.

A trip to the Registering and Licensing Authority (R.L.A.) can turn out to be one such experience.

The Registering and Licensing Authority is located in a prime location in Sector 17. But the building is ill-kept and shabbily maintained. Lack of adequate lights, makes it dingy. The fact that all fans don’t work, gives the feeling that you’re there to take a sauna bath. The counters are badly designed. The persons in charge of the counters sit behind desks, which have a glass partition in the front with a hole to talk through. The hole is at face level of the official seated at the desk. If you stand in the queue, the hole comes somewhere at the level of your belly button, which means bending double to talk to the officer behind the glass. A senior citizen with arthritis complained bitterly about this. It is ironic that we all drive cars that are ergonomically designed and user-friendly, but the people who issue licences and register vehicles do not have a clue about what ergonomics is all about. Nor do they know anything about public dealing. Their job is to make sure you make repeated trips to the office. In this, they are very successful.

To transfer the registration number of a car from one state to another takes a few short months. For this, you will need Form Number 20, 26 and 27. These should be in duplicate.

Form 28 should be in triplicate. Sounds simple but its diabolical. You have to provide a pencil impression of engine and chassis number. This means that you have to find the engine number, somewhere under the bonnet, put the form on it and rub a pencil over it to transfer the image on the form.

Repeating this exercise for the chassis number is utterly exasperating. The chassis number is found on the underbody, which more often than not is liberally coated with mud and cow-dung. To trace the number sans the cow dung requires considerable effort and expertise. In the days gone by, it was sufficient to simply mention the engine and chassis number on the form.

After having successfully "traced" the engine and chassis number onto the form 28 in triplicate, you need form 29, 30 and 60 in duplicate. A total of seven forms!

In addition, you need proof of residence — a ration card is no longer acceptable. So the authorities ask for the voter I.D. card. What if you are not an Indian citizen? You are then viewed with suspicion. Only Pak spies don’t have voter cards! This proof of residence is a major hurdle NRIs face. The NRIs can buy a car in India while living abroad, but they can’t register it here! Being an NRI, you have admitted that you are a non-resident Indian! A catch-22 situation if ever there was one!

If you submit photocopies, they must be attested. Another idiosyncratic rule! What more, the attested photocopies have to be supported by the originals! This is an excellent example of harassment, increased costs and wastage of time. And, you can’t even have somebody else go through these gymnastics. You must be present yourself.

I had another problem. My car was originally registered in my name in Delhi! I just wanted it transferred to Chandigarh, also in my name. It was a transfer of residence. I got the necessary No Objection Certificate from the Delhi authorities, okaying the transfer. I had all the necessary documents in order.

"Where is the sale letter?" asked the babu in the Chandigarh office. "No sale", said I. "No change of ownership — only transfer from Delhi to Chandigarh."

"But it says here in the rules that the sale letter from the seller is a must."

"Agreed", responded I, "but there has been no sale, no change in ownership of the car".

"If there’s no sale letter, how can I transfer it?"

I had to talk to and convince every officer in the building that there was indeed no sale. It was just the case of the same owner transferring the car from one state to the other.

One more point to be kept in mind. The registering office caters to only women and senior citizens on Saturdays. How very nice to be so thoughtful. So I went on a Saturday only to find out that Chandigarh’s population consists of about 60 per cent senior citizens. It would have been better getting the work done on a weekday!

Happy motoring!