Flagging the presence of the Motor Vehicle Department’s (MVD) physical checkposts in the national highway despite the availability of the online facility for various services including tax payment and permit issuance, the Union government has written to Kerala among others.
Even when services have gone online, there are checkposts on the national highways of 11 states and one union territory. They are Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Puducherry.
The Union government is of the stance that checkposts at borders are unnecessary as the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India’s online applications such as VAHAN and PARIVAHAN SARATHI are equipped for various services. In this regard, the Union government has sought their explanation on measures to avoid such checksposts.
At present only tax payment and permit issuance are happening in these checkposts. These services can be done online.
It is also important to note that with the implementation of GST, checkposts for collecting commercial tax were disbanded. Meanwhile, by disbanding the border checkposts, the employees from RTO can be reallocated in the MVD. If they are shifted to Enforcement Wing, then it will likely improve the effectiveness of MVD’s examination.
Notably, the revenue from checkposts in Kerala is also reducing. The checkposts are also in limelight for bribery allegations.
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