Bengaluru: The Dharwad bench of the High Court recently said that the person selling the vehicle should take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer of ownership is officially recorded in the records of the Regional Transport Office (RTO). According to the court's ruling, merely signing the prescribed form and providing No Objection Certificate (NOC) does not absolve a person from civil liability. Justice V Sreeshanand emphasized that only the act of signing Form no. 29 And the grant of NOC does not automatically result in transfer of ownership. The court's observation came during a case involving Avinash Hariba Alaway, a resident of Kolhapur, Maharashtra.

Alve protested against the proceedings initiated by the Kakati police in Belagavi district related to the May 15, 2015 accident. The police had registered a case against Rajesh Lal, a resident of Navi Mumbai and the alleged car owner. Rajesh, however, claimed that he had already sold the vehicle to Alve. Consequently, Alaway's name was included in the chargesheet.

Allway argued that he was not the owner of the vehicle on the date of the accident, while Rajesh claimed that Allway had failed to register the vehicle in his name at the RTO after purchase. After reviewing the evidence, Justice Sreeshanand found that the vehicle was registered in the name of Rajesh at the time of the accident. It was Rajesh's responsibility to remove his name from the RTO records to make the ownership transfer valid. The court said that the contention of the petitioner that he was not the owner when the accident occurred is valid and framing of charges against him despite knowing this fact is unacceptable.