Lucknow, Apr 22 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh Transport Department on Tuesday said it has issued show-cause notices to 51 vehicle dealers and 28 Assistant Regional Transport Officers (ARTOs) across the state following a review that uncovered significant irregularities and delays in the vehicle registration process.

The action comes as part of a state-wide effort directed by the Yogi Adityanath government to ensure that the system is timely, transparent and citizen-friendly, it said in a statement.

The department conducted a regular review of the Dealer Point Registration system, analysing data entered into the Vahan 4.0 portal between January and March 2025. This analysis revealed widespread non-compliance with established procedures.

Investigators found numerous instances where dealers allegedly delivered vehicles to owners before completing the registration process.

Other common violations included uploading of incomplete, illegible or inconsistent documents to the portal, and failing to rectify issues even after applications were rejected and returned by the department.

Critically, many owners reportedly did not receive their Registration Certificates (RCs) in a timely manner.

The specific grounds for the crackdown include delivery of vehicles before registration, repeated uploading of unreadable, incomplete or inconsistent documents and failure to make corrections despite departmental rejection of files.

Also, the crackdown involved the non-provision of the Registration Certificate (RC) to the vehicle owner on time, according to the statement.

“Based on these findings, show-cause notices have been served to 51 dealers, including a prominent dealer in Lucknow. They have been given 14 days to provide a clear and satisfactory explanation. Failure to do so could lead to the suspension or cancellation of their Trade Certificates according to official procedure,” the Transport Department said.

Transport Commissioner Brajesh Narayan Singh said the department’s main goal is to provide timely and smooth services to citizens, according to the government’s intention.

“Negligence at any level will be taken seriously and strict action will be taken against the responsible persons or organisations according to the rules,” he added.

He further clarified that vehicle registration services are directly connected to the public and any kind of negligence — whether by dealers or department officials — will not be tolerated. Failure to follow departmental orders will also be dealt with seriously and action will be taken as per the rules, he added.

The review also highlighted administrative indifference and lack of oversight within the transport offices themselves.

Lapses at the ARTO level reportedly included significant pendency of registration files, approval of applications with errors and a failure to adequately review compliance.

Consequently, 28 ARTOs from the relevant districts have also been issued show-cause notices for these supervisory failures, according to the statement. PTI KIS KSS KSS