Hand over vehicle only after Form 29 submission, RTO receipt

The Himachal Pradesh (HP) High Court recently ruled that a vehicle’s registered owner remains legally responsible for any accident until its ownership is officially transferred, even if the vehicle was sold earlier.

- SANJEEV SINHA.

The case

In 2016, a car registered in the name of Boby Chauhan rolled down a ravine in Himachal Pradesh, killing three people. Chauhan claimed he had sold the car to the driver, Gian Chand, before the accident. However, the HP High Court held that under Section 50 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the ownership had not been officially transferred as the required intimation of transfer had not been made.

Under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, liability for accidents is based on statutory ownership. “Section 2(30) defines the ‘owner’ as the person in whose name the vehicle is registered. Under Section 50, transfer of ownership takes effect only when duly intimated and endorsed by the registering authority,” says Amit Kumar Nag, partner, Aquilaw.

Ownership transfer process