The e-Way bill, which currently gives only details of the value of goods being transported, may be packed with more data — for instance, on the vehicle’s fitness, insurance paid and pollution under control certification.
Based on a suggestion from an inter-ministerial task force, the GST Council has asked the GSTN to work on this proposal in the belief that this will eliminate all check posts and any “undue harassment” by regional transport authorities, and facilitate smooth movement of commercial vehicles.
The new system is expected to be in place within next six months. Since it requires the involvement of Regional Transport Authorities (RTO), the task force report was circulated to all the States on July 17 and discussed by the GST Council at its July 21 meeting.
Once the e-Way bill database is integrated with the VAHAN database, whenever the transporter fills up the registration details in Part B of FORM GST EWB-01, information on the vehicle fitness, third party insurance, PUC and national permit, drawn from the VAHAN database, can be auto populated in the e-Way bill.