Car ownership info just an SMS away Besides revealing owner’s name, service also discloses loan details

Car ownership info just an SMS away

Besides revealing owner’s name, service also discloses loan details

Did you know that Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt has taken a loan from Vijaya Bank to buy his Rolls Royce Phantom? Or that the Range Rover Sport that Salman Khan drives around is actually owned by Arbaaz Khan Productions and is financed by HDFC Bank? Now on, you can access car ownership information with just a SMS. In its bid to bring in transparency and efficiency, the central transport department has unwittingly made available car ownership details, like name of the owner, details of road-tax payment and hypothecation to financial institutions. All one needs is the vehicle’s registration number to access all the relevant data. One just needs to SMS VAHAN space (registration number of the vehicle) to the number 9212357123 to get the vehicle details instantly in a return SMS. However, the move has not gone down well with car owners, with some like Bandra-resident Parvez Dhanu calling it a “breach of privacy”. “There is no restricted access, no password protection for the ownership details, and the information can be easily misused by the wrong elements,” said Dhanu, adding that right from stalkers wanting to get names of woman drivers, to underworld operators who want to ascertain the ownership details for extortion, the SMS service is susceptible to all kinds of abuse. Nevertheless, the service will come in handy when it comes to tracing car owners in hit-and-run cases, or in detecting a fake registration number in case of a suspicious car. Admitting that the service did have certain advantages, Chembur-resident Amish Gupte said, “But officials can restrict the service to select agencies instead of allowing the general public to access the info.” Though the centre has introduced this service along with related services that provide details like the status of permit of commercial vehicles and tax details, even the local transport department officials are unaware of the facility, let alone commenting on its effectiveness. “We are yet to get information on any service like this,” said additional transport commissioner Shirish Thakur, adding that the service must be part of the department’s drive to digitise all data. He, however, refused to comment on its efficacy or potential misuse.