Centre vs State? Kerala finds loophole to retain 5,500 old vehicles

Thiruvananthapuram: The Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) in Kerala is set to alter the registration classification of government-owned vehicles in a bid to bypass the Centre’s mandate requiring the scrapping of vehicles older than 15 years.

Under the current system, registrations of ageing government vehicles are automatically cancelled in the ‘VAHAN ’ software once they cross the prescribed age limit. To prevent this, the Transport Commissioner has directed officials to modify the classification of such vehicles from “government” to “others” within the software.

The move comes amid the Centre’s vehicle scrappage policy aimed at reducing pollution, under which vehicles owned by government departments and public sector undertakings must be phased out after 15 years. Around 5,500 government vehicles in Kerala had already seen their registrations cancelled under this rule.

Although the state government issued an order last month allowing these vehicles to be used for an additional five years, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways declined to update or renew their registration status in the Vahan system.

Following this, special permission has now been granted to renew registrations manually in official registers. Department heads of offices where the vehicles are registered must submit applications for the same. The state has also instructed the State Insurance Department to extend insurance coverage to these vehicles.

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The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) alone is reportedly operating over 1,000 such buses.

However, officials point out that many of these vehicles have remained unused for more than two years and are in deteriorating condition. Repairing them would involve significant expenditure, and completing the administrative procedures to approve repair funds could take at least six months.

Kerala had earlier received ₹100 crore in central assistance for scrapping old vehicles. The decision to continue using them comes after this allocation, raising questions over policy implementation and fiscal priorities.