Transfer deeds cost motorists six-fold in Punjab

Motor Registration Authority charges Rs300 for document costing less than Rs50

LAHORE:

The Punjab Motor Registration Authority collects an excess amount of more than Rs 300 million annually from the people in transfer deed charges for the ownership of vehicles in the province.

The people are forced to buy a transfer deed worth less than Rs50 from the excise and taxation department for Rs300. The change of ownership of a car, motorcycle, rickshaw or any other vehicle is not possible without the transfer deed.

According to sources, more than 1.2 million transfer deeds on specific stamp papers are used annually for transferring the ownership of motorcycles, rickshaws, vans and other vehicles.

The department gets the deeds printed from the Punjab Printing Press.

As per the agreement with the Motor Registration Authority of the excise and taxation department, the Punjab Printing Press produces a transfer deed for Rs48.50 and hands it over to the department. However, anyone who sells or buys a vehicle from someone else gets the transfer deed from the department for Rs300.

Thus the department charges an additional Rs251 for each document. is collected from the public by the department.

The sources said the Punjab Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department sells more than 1.2 million transfer deeds annually and pays Rs58.2 million to the Punjab Printing Press after generating over Rs360 million through the Motor Registration Authority.

Thus the authority earns a profit of more than Rs300 million per annum by selling the deeds costing Rs48.50 for Rs300 each. When asked about the matter, a spokesperson for the excise and taxation department said the profit earned from the sale of transfer deeds is kept in a revolving fund and spent on other works of benefit to the people. All the money received from the transfer deeds does not go into the pocket of any employee but is deposited in the state treasury that is audited every year, he added.

The spokesperson revealed that the department will adopt a biometric system that will start operating next month to protect the people from fraud and make the services convenient.

Under the system, if the ownership of a car, motorcycle or any other vehicle is changed, fingerprints will be taken from both the seller and the buyer.

He said there had been a number of cases where a vehicle had been registered with fake signatures and thumbprints. This will no longer be possible after the use of the biometric system.

An Excise and Taxation Department spokesman said that the owners should get their vehicles registered in their names else the registration may be cancelled and the vehicles would be impounded.

He said the people mostly used open transfer letters to buy and sale vehicles.

The open transfer letters, which did not have any date and particulars of the buyer, were considered an easy way to transfer ownership without paying any charges or taxes and that was why the open letters had been declared illegal, he added.

The department of has launched an Appointment Management System through a mobile app to prevent overcrowding in the office and ensure social distancing to curb the spread of coronavirus. Citizens will be able to avail facility for new registration and vehicle transfer by taking appointment from the mobile application. They will visit the designated office and meet the assigned official and leave after completion of the work.

The vehicle token tax can also be paid through online service of ePay. Public dealing offices of the Punjab Excise Taxation and Narcotics Control Department were closed in the lockdown that has been going on for almost two and a half months to curb the spread of Corona virus across Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2021.