Rajasthan’s transport department has made videography mandatory during every vehicle registration inspection after finding that some vehicles were registered using chassis details even when their bodies were not ready. The measure is intended to prevent unauthorised modifications, document physical inspections and establish responsibility for approvals.
Transport commissioner Purusottam Sharma has directed all regional transport offices and district transport offices to record each registration inspection for a minimum of 10 minutes. The inspecting officer must remain visible in the footage, which will be retained as evidence that the vehicle was physically checked before registration.
The video must capture the vehicle’s registration number, chassis number and the identity of the inspecting officer before it is submitted. RTO and DTO offices have also been told to maintain backup copies of the recordings on hard drives for a specified period, according to the department’s instructions.
Sharma said the decision followed instances in which vehicles were registered on the basis of chassis details although their actual bodies had not been completed. Such a process can leave the registration record disconnected from the vehicle that eventually appears on the road, making later verification more difficult.
The new requirement is also aimed at cases in which a registered vehicle is subsequently found to have been modified and involved in an accident. The recorded inspection would allow the department to examine what was presented to the registering authority and identify the official responsible for the inspection and approval.
“If it is found that a modified vehicle has been approved, action will be taken against the vehicle owner as well as the transport official responsible for its inspection and approval,” Sharma said.
The department has described unauthorised vehicle modifications as a road-safety risk. Its instructions place responsibility on field offices to ensure that the registration process produces a verifiable record, rather than relying only on the documents and chassis details submitted during registration.
For vehicle owners, the change means that registration inspections will involve a recorded visual check and that the vehicle’s identifying details must be clearly visible in the footage. For transport officials, the recordings create an audit trail that can be reviewed if questions later arise about the vehicle’s condition or the validity of its approval.
The department has asked all RTOs and DTOs to implement the videography requirement for vehicle registrations and preserve the footage for future verification. The instructions do not specify in the supplied report the exact period for which each office must retain the recordings.
