Bhubaneswar: The State Transport Authority (STA) on Monday issued a fresh notification mentioning that the online Pollution under Control (PUC) certificate will be mandatory from October 1, 2019. No PUC Certificate will be accepted without being issued through VAHAN on or after October 1, 2019, said STA in the notification.
The announcement came after the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways asked all States and Union Territories to ensure that all PUC centres upload emission test data electronically to VAHAN database as per guidelines issued in compliance with Supreme Court directions.
However, the vehicle owners in Odisha will continue to get relaxation upto December 1, 2019 as announced by CM Naveen Patnaik, STA has clarified.
The authorities have said that Pollution Testing Centres can not issue manual certificates from October 1, while the citizens will have the option to show the online certificate in mParivan APP in place of physical document.
As per official sources, over 69,210 PUC certificates have been issued between September 1 and September 20, 2019.
It is pertinent to mention that the Ministry of Road Transport, Highways had issued a notification on June 6, 2018, stating that the emission results obtained during pollution testing shall be electronically uploaded through online process in VAHAN from April 1, 2019. But the implementation of the said notification was extended upto October 1, 2019 due to lack of infrastructure of Pollution Testing Centers (PTC) in Odisha.
“No PUC Certificate will be accepted without being issued through VAHAN on or after October 1, 2019. The manual certificates issued by Pollution Testing Centres after September 30, 2019 will be treated as invalid,” STA notification read.
The STA, however, clarified that the manual PUC certificates issued before September 30, 2019 will remain valid. It has further said that the PUC Certificates issued online can be shown in electronic form through mParivahan App and it's not mandatory for the citizens to carry the certificate in physical form as per the provisions of Information Technology Act, 2000.
A total of 163 authorized Pollution Testing Centres are available throughout the state, of which 106 have already been linked with VAHAN to issue online PUC Certificates, while 14 new Pollution Testing Centres have been authorized after September 1, 2019.
The PUC Certificate testing fees for two and three wheelers is Rs 60, for Light Motor Vehicle is Rs 100 and for Medium & Heavy Motor Vehicle, it is Rs 150.
The list of Valid/New Authorized Pollution Testing Centres, the Pollution Testing Centres linked to VAHAN along with the detail procedure to apply setting up new Pollution Testing Centres are available in the websites: www.odishatransport.gov.in & www.orissatransport.nic.in