Thiruvananthapuram: In an embarrassing move, a prominent association of officials in the Motor Vehicles Department has come up against the reforms being implemented in the department under the watchful eyes of Transport Minister K. B. Ganesh Kumar. As the government moves ahead with plans to bring in changes in the department to suit the times, the collective move of the officials is being seen as a setback to the efforts of the minister.

As per reports, the Kerala Motor Vehicles Department Gazetted Officers’ Association has approached the Chief Minister with a complaint against the suspension of printing vehicle registration certificates (RCs). They have submitted the complaint opposing the decision made by Transport Minister K. B. Ganesh Kumar. They urged the CM to intervene in the issue and reinstate the RC printing.

According to the complaint, under the Central Motor Vehicles Act, the RC book is a right of the vehicle owner. The decision to stop its printing does not hold legal ground, the association argues. The complaint says that when vehicles travel outside Kerala, officers in other states often demand the physical RC book, which puts vehicle owners in a difficult situation.

Interestingly, it is the vehicle inspectors—a key group of officials within the minister’s own department—who are now publicly opposing a digital initiative that the minister had touted as one of the government's achievements. Kerala is the second state in the country to fully transition to a digital system. Since 2018, the Union Ministry of Road Transport has been encouraging digital vehicle records and had even issued a directive giving legal validity to digital copies.

The shift to digital RCs came after the printing of smart card-format RC books was disrupted in the state. One of the features of the new system is that there is no need to spend money for a duplicate RC. The digital version of the RC is available to the vehicle owner on the very same day the vehicle is registered.

The RC book can be accessed through mobile apps like mParivahan and DigiLocker. However, drivers face difficulties when travelling to other states where some officers insist on seeing the original physical RC book. This issue is expected to be resolved once all states transition fully to digital documentation—a move the central government is actively working on.