RTO will give clearance certificate only once the owner presents the vehicle in stock form, which has hampered sales of modified vehicles in Kerala
According to the recent Supreme Court rule, modifications in vehicles are not legal and most of the state governments have started to inform owners about this rule as they need to remove all aftermarket parts and restore the vehicle. The state which has impacted by this rule very hard is Kerala as modifications are so popular in God’s Own Country.
The modification shops in Kerala are of huge number as customers are willing to spend lots of money to make their vehicles unique. But the Motor Vehicle Department of Kerala is taking strict actions against these vehicles as they have sent notices to customers. But most of them are not willing to remove these expensive aftermarket parts.
So most of the owners have decided to sell these vehicles to people in other states. The MVD department has noticed this as sales of modified vehicles in platforms like OLX have increased considerably in recent weeks. But to complete the buying process, the owner must get No Obligation Certificate (NOC) from RTO.
The MVD has decided that they will give clearance certificate only once the owner removes all modified parts from the car and present the car in front of RTO in stock form. If they don’t then the RC transfer won’t be possible. Even though so many modifications groups across the state have protested against it several times.
These modified vehicles, mainly off-road, have played an important role during the flood time as the high ground clearance and expensive off-road parts have helped them to reach places where people are stuck. During the flood time, the government had even requested these groups to bring modified vehicles for rescue operations.
Even minor modifications like upgrading exhausts, aftermarket alloy wheels and horns are not allowed as MVD has taken action against them. Some of the owners were requested to pay hefty fines for not following the rule. The aftermarket industry will take a huge hit as it might lead to people losing jobs in this sector.