The Punjab government has put a complete ban on unlicensed workshops that make and repair commercial vehicle bodies in order to ensure the safety of people and property.
Furthermore, the excise department has initiated a crackdown on workshops that produce bodies for unfinished vehicles that only have an engine and a base frame.
As a result, all such workshops that build bodies on chassis will now be required to obtain a license from the provincial department of transportation in order to continue operating. Similarly, excise registrations can only be issued to vehicles whose bodies have been assembled by approved factories. This will be checked by the workshop’s provision of a certificate of completion at the time of excise registration.
“The decision to ban unlicensed body makers was based on claims that a certain local automaker was selling engines and chassis of commercial vehicles instead of the whole vehicle,” said an excise department official familiar with the situation who was not authorized to talk to the press.
The Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) recently registered fake registration for more than 7,000 auctioned vehicles, according to department sources. It was discovered that unlicensed workshops produced bodies for the auctioned engine chassis.
According to government officials familiar with the situation, Chapter 6 of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965 outlines the vehicle fitness requirements in great detail. “However, these unlicensed workshops construct substandard bodies, endangering the owners’ lives and property, as well as jeopardizing public safety,” a government official told.
