The transfer of ownership of “non-transport vehicles”, like private cars, can be endorsed and recorded by any registering authority, irrespective of the address of the purchaser, the state’s transport department has decided.

“The vehicle’s purchaser may be allowed to remain present virtually or physically as per his/her convenience,” says a notification issued by state transport secretary Saumitra Mohan.

Until now, a purchaser had to appear before a regional transport officer in person and complete the formalities of buying a second-hand vehicle from the seller.

Senior officers of the transport department stated that on several occasions, the transfer of vehicle ownership has remained incomplete because the buyer failed to comply with the sale requirements by not attending in person.

Without completing the formalities for a transfer of ownership, even if a vehicle has been sold, it will not be registered in the name of the new owner.

The tweak of the prevailing system of buying and selling a private non-commercial vehicle was done for “ease of doing business”, the notification says.

“The notification says that if a buyer is unable to appear physically to complete the transfer of ownership of a vehicle, he can appear virtually and wrap up the required formalities. The same holds for the seller,” a senior official of the transport department said.

“This will be most beneficial for those who are located in far-flung areas and outside Bengal and are either buying or selling a vehicle from a person based out of Calcutta and its adjoining areas,” said the official.

The transfer of ownership of a car has remained a challenge for many Calcuttans, who often can’t find time to appear in person or get the buyer to do so before the registering authority.

“I had to ask my car’s buyer to fly down from Gurgaon and appear before the registering authority in Beltala to complete the formalities of transfer of ownership. It was very challenging,” said Bhowanipore resident Rajiv Dey, who sold his four-year-old car recently.

The notification says that “whenever a non-transport vehicle is produced for renewal of registration before any registering authority of West Bengal, a photograph of the vehicle has to be captured using an authenticated app of the National Informatics Centre (NIC).”

Senior officers said that the decision to have the seller and buyer appear in person or virtually to complete the transfer of ownership was to ensure that both the registering authority and the seller were aware of the buyer’s identity.

“There have been cases where the seller was not even aware of who bought his vehicle because of the involvement of a middleman. We want to stop this,” the officer said.

“The transport department has received complaints from sellers saying that their vehicle was being used by a person in another state when they had sold it to someone, knowing that the buyer was based out of Calcutta,” he said