Chandigarh is the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana and one of the earliest planned cities in Northern India. As it is a Union Territory, the city is solely governed by the president of India with the help of an administrator who is currently the Governor of Punjab. 

It is the headquarter of different administrative departments, so the city is well-maintained by the local municipality. In this regard, all vehicle and traffic-related matters are overseen by the local RTO, which has the code number PB-01.

The list of functions that Chandigarh RTO performs are:

• Issuance of different types of driving licences

• Providing new conductor’s licence

• Conducting driving licence tests 

• Issuing and renewing the vehicle registration certificate

• Issuing duplicate registration certificate

• Transferring vehicle ownership

• Collecting road taxes

• Providing vehicle fitness certificate

• Issuance of  Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates 

• Providing NOC for vehicle

• New registration mark reassignment

One can apply for the following types of driving licence in Chandigarh RTO:

• Learners’ Licence

• Permanent Driving Licence

• International Driving Licence

• Commercial Driving Licence

Like all other cities of India, Chandigarh RTO also offers two types of vehicle registration in the vicinity. These are:

• Temporary registration

• Permanent registration

To register a car in Chandigarh, you will need to pay the following amount as a total expense:

• Registration charges: ₹600 (for all types of cars)

• Number plate: ₹230 - ₹400 

• Hypothecation charges: ₹1500 (for the cars purchased on loan)

• Parking fee: ₹2000 for cars under ₹4 lakh and ₹4000 for cars above ₹4 lakh

• Temporary registration charges: ₹1200 - ₹1500

Chandigarh road tax structure is as follows:

Two Wheelers:

• Within ₹60000: 3% to ₹1800

• Within ₹90000: 3% to₹2980

• Within ₹125000: 4% to ₹5280

• Within ₹300000: 4% to ₹12280

Four Wheelers

• Within ₹4 lakh: 6% to ₹24000

• Within ₹8 lakh: 6% to ₹48000

• Within ₹12 lakh: 6% to ₹72000

• Within ₹18 lakh: 6% to ₹108000

• Within ₹25 lakh: 6% to ₹200520

• Within ₹45 lakh: 6% to ₹360000

Upon disobeying traffic rules, offenders must pay a certain amount of fine as per the fine structure of the Chandigarh government:

• Driving without a licence: ₹5000

• Unauthorised person driving: ₹5000

• Unregistered four-wheelers: ₹5000

• Unregistered two-wheelers: ₹3000

• Unfit vehicle driving: ₹5000

• Driving without a helmet: ₹1000

• Driving without a seatbelt: ₹1000

• Triple riding: ₹2000

• Disobeying traffic signs: ₹500

Throughout Chandigarh, it is mandatory to have motor insurance. Violating this rule may lead to serious consequences like a fine of ₹2000 for the first offence and ₹4000 for the subsequent offences. Vehicle insurance is extremely helpful for accident damage control. So, apart from its legal importance, you should also have one for the safety of your vehicle.

In recent road events, an increased rate of road accidents is a serious concern for Chandigarh. A report says in the last six months of this year, the city has witnessed 75 fatal road accidents as per the local police report.

On 20th May 2023, news of the death of 3 people and injury of 4 due to a car-bike collision was reported in the city. On 9th June, the city witnessed another death of 2 bikers in Mohali. Another unfortunate road accident took place when a 25-year-old died after being hit by an overspeeding jeep. The youth was feeding stray dogs at that time.

All these have raised serious concerns among the local authorities, and they are trying to take preventive measures.

To ensure maximum road safety, some local safety campaigns have been arranged recently in Chandigarh. These are:

• A road safety force was launched to check and reduce the number of road accidents on 10th June 2023. However, local drivers should be more cautious and responsible to ensure road safety

• Two weeks ago Mayor started Chipkar campaign for bicycle safety

• Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar initiated a road safety week under the ‘Safe Punjab Sohana Punjab Campaign” in Mohali

Apart from these, as it is a planned city, the local government and RTO are taking different advanced steps to provide maximum safety on the road to the drivers and pedestrians.