Guwahati: Nearly 16,000 vehicles bearing identical chassis and engine numbers have been registered across multiple northeastern states, the latest report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has revealed. The report was tabled in the 126-member Assam Assembly on February 19, 2026.
Duplicate vehicle registrations flagged
According to the audit, a test check of the VAHAN database for Assam and seven other states in the region found that 15,849 vehicles with the same chassis and engine numbers were registered in two or more states. Of these, 12,112 vehicles were registered in Assam without the mandatory no-objection certificate (NOC), accounting for 76 per cent of such cases.
Under Indian law, a vehicle must have a unique registration number at any given time. Re-registration in a new state is permitted upon relocation, cancelling the previous registration.
School buses issued wrong permits
The CAG also flagged “significant deficiencies” in the issuance of transport vehicle permits. Across eight test-checked District Transport Offices, only 26,105 permits (21.87 per cent) were issued against 1,19,369 registered vehicles between 2019 and 2024.
Concerns were also raised over school transportation. The report noted that school buses in eight districts were issued contract carriage permits instead of Educational Institution Bus (EIB) permits, allowing them to bypass mandatory fitness checks designed to ensure higher safety standards.
“This defeats the purpose of EIB permits, which are specifically designed to ensure enhanced safety standards for school transportation,” the report read.
A contract carriage permit authorises a vehicle to transport passengers for hire as a single group under a contract, instead of picking up individual passengers who pay separate fares.
A contract carriage permit authorises a vehicle to transport passengers for hire as a single group under a contract, instead of picking up individual passengers who pay separate fares.
The audit highlighted an “exponential increase” in Assam’s vehicular population, which has outpaced the Transport Department’s workforce capacity. Vacancy levels ranged from 30 per cent to 57 per cent.
CAG flags gaps in alcohol production norms
On the excise side, the CAG recommended fixing standard production norms for alcohol made from grains, taking into account the starch content of the raw material as well as the fermentation and distillation technologies used by manufacturers.
It further advised the Excise Department to frame similar norms for beer production, drawing reference to guidelines mentioned in a 1918 manual. The department was also urged to revise its rules to incorporate clear and enforceable penalties for microbreweries that produce draught beer exceeding the 5% v/v limit and to introduce regular testing and monitoring systems to ensure adherence to prescribed alcohol strength standards.
The CAG said such measures were required in view of possible under-reporting of beer output between 2018-19 and 2023-24. It noted that actual production of 1,809 lakh bulk litres during this period was lower than the minimum expected yield of 2,039.71 lakh bulk litres.