One lakh secure numberplates still unclaimed as dealers refuse to get them fixed

NEW DELHI: The transport department’s efforts to get new vehicle owners to opt for the high-security registration plates (HSRP) seem to have run into a hurdle. Despite a notification in October that made it mandatory for dealers to affix the secure numberplates before delivering the vehicle, no one is coming forward to get the new numberplates fixed. U RKapoor of Rosemerta, which is the vendor for the HSRP, said, “We have over a lakh registration plates with us which no one has come forward to collect .” This is despite the fact that high-security registration plates are mandatory for new vehicles in Delhi.

Issuing of high-security registration plates, which started from May this year, was set in motion by the transport department after a court order. In the first phase, the HSRP have been made mandatory for new vehicles. However , with few people coming forward to get the HSRP fixed, the transport department had in October come out with a notification making dealers responsible for these numberplates. At that time, Delhi traffic police had also started a drive against vehicles being driven without registration plates. The drive had prompted many owners of new vehicles to get the secure numberplates affixed , said Kapoor. “The unclaimed plates had come down to 40,000 during that period,” said the Rosemerta official.

However, after the drive, the number has gone up again, touching 1 lakh numberplates. The vendor has to date affixed only 1.25 lakh registration plates, a minuscule number considering more than a thousand new vehicles are registered in the city every day. “At present, we affix about 1,500-2 ,000 numberplates every day,” added Kapoor. They have the capacity to fix over 4,000 secure registration plates every day. According to Kapoor, the situation has worsened in the past two months, with fewer vehicle owners turning up to collect the HSRP.

Sources said dealers who were ordered by the transport department to affix the new numberplates before delivering the vehicle, have refused to do so. Said a senior transport department official, “The dealers have been handing over the vehicles with the older numberplates , as they claim the court had never put the onus of fixing the HSRP on them.” Delhi traffic police doesn’t prosecute these vehicles as they have registration plates — and not just the number affixed on paper as before. “It’s difficult to differentiate between the new vehicles with regular registration plates and older vehicles, so prosecution has come down,” said a transport department official.

Transport minister Ramakant Goswami has called a high-level meeting on Tuesday. Sources said the minister has asked the department to look into why dealers have not followed the notification. All stakeholders, including Rosemerta , will be present at the meeting, said the official.