Mehsana RTO: GJ-02 office, codes, and road tax

Mehsana, spelt Mahesana on some official pages, registers its vehicles under GJ-02 at its Regional Transport Office (RTO). Two of its neighbours, Gandhinagar (GJ-18) and Patan (GJ-24), are reported to have been formed partly from Mehsana land, which is why their codes are often taken for Mehsana ones.

Look at GJ 02 AB 1234 and you are looking at a Mehsana registration. The GJ prefix is Gujarat’s, 02 is the Mehsana RTO’s own number, the letters AB give the series, and 1234 is the four-digit number.

Worth knowing: A GJ-02 car that later belongs to a Gandhinagar buyer, or travels with its owner to a new home in Vadodara, does not change its code, since a GJ-02 plate changes only if the car is re-registered outside Gujarat or its registration details are changed, and not on a sale or a house move inside the state.

Sticker colours and the plate’s security marks are described in our Gujarat RTO guide.

Mehsana’s code is GJ-02. Two nearby codes cause the most confusion: GJ-18, the Gandhinagar code, and GJ-24, the Patan code, as both districts are reported to include land that once belonged to Mehsana.

The Commissionerate of Transport, Gujarat names the office RTO Mehsana (GJ-2) on its page, confirming the code. Gandhinagar district is reported to have been formed on 1 May 1964 from parts of Ahmedabad and Mehsana, and Patan district on 2 October 2000 from parts of Banaskantha and Mehsana.

The GJ-02 office takes care of vehicle registration, licences, ownership and address changes and road tax for the district. The code and the office type are official, while the location at Palavasna comes from directory listings that should be checked before a visit.

Mehsana RTO office, GJ-02

Directories put the office at Palavasna in Mehsana. One describes it as near Khari Nadi on the Palavasna Highway, and another as near Sardar Dairy.

Worth knowing: Gandhinagar and Patan have their own offices, so an owner living in either district does not register at the GJ-02 office. Mehsana applicants book driving tests and other timed services on Sarathi before turning up.

Your vehicle belongs to the office covering the address on its registration, so an address in Mehsana district means GJ-02. An official town-by-town list could not be confirmed, which is why the table lists districts. For a car you already own, the Vahan portal shows which office has its record.

To check a particular car, put its registration, GJ02AB1234 for instance, into the RTO finder near the top of this page. Its office of record is the one that will deal with any future application.

Worth knowing: A move from Mehsana to Gandhinagar or any other Gujarat district is only an address change for the car. The RC gets the new address, and you should inform your insurer as soon as that is done.

In other words, ₹36,000 is the road tax on a ₹6 lakh car registered as GJ-02, no more and no less than at the Gandhinagar or Patan office.

Registration fees come from a national schedule, so Mehsana charges exactly what Gandhinagar, Patan or Ahmedabad would. They are paid on the Vahan portal, and a new car’s dealer pays them while lodging the registration.

Worked example: Take a Mehsana couple buying a new car on finance. They pay ₹600 for the registration, ₹200 for a smart card RC and ₹1,500 to record the loan, ₹2,300 in all to the RTO, with the Gujarat road tax still to come.

For a GJ-02 car that has passed 15 years, a 5-year renewal costs ₹5,000, and after 20 years the charge is ₹10,000. Missing the due date brings a penalty of ₹500 per month for a car, against ₹300 per month for a motorcycle.

The dealer registers a new car on Vahan, but the approving office depends on the buyer’s address, not the showroom’s. A Mehsana resident who buys in Ahmedabad still receives a GJ-02 number, and a Patan resident who buys in Mehsana receives GJ-24.

A sold GJ-02 car is transferred by the Mehsana office that holds its file, through Vahan or in person. Form 29 is filed by the seller and Form 30 by seller and buyer together, with a ₹300 fee for a car.

A car with a loan still marked on its RC (hypothecation) needs Form 35 and the lender’s No Objection Certificate (NOC) first, free of charge. Our Gujarat RTO guide has the full transfer rules.

Mehsana owners can handle most RTO tasks from home, with the Vahan portal for anything about the vehicle and the Sarathi portal for licences. The GJ-02 office then works on the application.

Duplicate RC and RC status check in Mehsana

Replace a lost or damaged GJ-02 RC by applying on Form 26 for a duplicate, which costs ₹300 for a car. For the current record, check your RC status on Kiwi Insurance.

Driving licence services in Mehsana

Learner’s licence applications go through Sarathi, as does booking a slot for the test, which is then taken at the Mehsana office. For the other services, see our Gujarat RTO guide.

A Mehsana motorist found without valid insurance faces ₹2,000 the first time and ₹4,000 for later offences, the penalty in section 196 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

The amount due is printed on the challan. Settle it online at echallan.parivahan.gov.in or through the mParivahan app. Other common offences are tabled in our Gujarat RTO guide.

If your car already has a GJ number, it keeps that number when you move to Mehsana. A car registered in another state is different, as section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 requires a Gujarat registration once it has been kept here for more than 12 months.

If you are leaving Gujarat, reverse the order: The Mehsana RTO provides the NOC on Form 28, and the car is registered afresh in the state you are moving to.

Worth knowing: Inform your insurer when you arrive in Mehsana and again when the GJ-02 number is allotted, so the policy and the RC stay in step. Form 28 and the related forms are explained in our Gujarat RTO guide.

Instead of GJ-02, a Mehsana owner who is likely to be transferred to another state can ask for a Bharat (BH) series number, valid throughout India, so the next move needs no No Objection Certificate (NOC). Eligibility covers defence and government staff, plus private-sector workers at a firm with offices in at least 4 states or union territories, whose employer supplies Form 60.

The format is YY BH #### XX, where YY is the year of first registration, the four digits are allotted at random, and XX represents the alphabetic series, which can be a single letter or two letters. It is black on a white plate, like any other private car.

BH vehicles pay tax every 2 years, not Gujarat’s one-time amount; rates appear in our Gujarat RTO guide.

India uses one set of RTO forms under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, and most can be completed online through Vahan or Sarathi. A printable PDF is useful only if the Mehsana office requests paper.

Before you submit: The Parivahan Sewa website shows what each service needs and hosts every other RTO form.