Regional Transport Office

The Regional Transport Office or District Transport Office or Regional Transport Authority (RTO/DTO/RTA) is the organisation of the Indian government responsible for maintaining a database of drivers and a database of vehicles for various states of India. The RTO issues driving licences, organises collection of vehicle excise duty (also known as road tax and road fund licence) and sells personalised registrations.

Along with this, the RTO is also responsible to inspect vehicle's insurance and clear the pollution test.

Function of RTO:

1. To enforce the provisions of the various acts of motor vehicles, central motor vehicle rules and the State motor vehicle rules as laid down by the government from time to time.
2. To ensure that co-ordinated development of road transport through management of permit.
3. To charge and collect tax as per the provisions of the motor vehicle act.
4. To enforce road safety and bring in new amendments into force with relation to the Indian Motor Vehicle Act 1988.

The officer ranks are categorized as: (Rank from lower to higher, Mostly known by different names for designations across different states)

1. Junior Inspector of Motor Vehicles/ Assistant Motor Vehicles Inspector (AMVI)
2. Senior Inspector of Motor Vehicles/Motor Vehicles Inspector (MVI)
3. Assistant Regional Transport Officer/Joint Regional Transport Officer (Jt.RTO)
4. Regional Transport Officer (RTO)
5. Followed by other top-level officers, such as Deputy, Joint, and Additional Transport Commissioners, with the Transport Commissioner acting as the administrator for the department.

• The above-mentioned designation names are as per the nomenclature of the Government of Karnataka and the Government of Kerala.