Nearly five months after the Central government made the fitting of high security registration plates (HSRPs) mandatory for newly purchased vehicles, ambiguity persists among vehicle dealers, number plate manufacturers, transport officials and consumers.
In December 2018, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a notification that HSRPs shall be supplied by the vehicle manufacturers to their dealers and that dealers shall affix them on the vehicles. This is applicable to vehicles manufactured on or after April 1, 2019. The HSRP fitting includes a ‘third registration mark’ - a chromium-based hologram sticker containing the details of registration - affixed on the inner side of the vehicles’ windshield.
This has put vehicle dealers and consumers in a fix as the arrival of HSRPs could take days after the purchase of the vehicle. According to D. Jameson, General Manager of a two-wheeler showroom, the dealers update the customer details in the software of the manufacturing company, which is shared with the authorised HSRP vendors to create the number plates. “This process takes anywhere between five to 10 days,” he said. The traffic police tend to excuse the motorists if they show the number generated using ‘Vahan’, the nationwide database for vehicle registration details. However, the customers could not use the vehicles for long-distance travels until the HSRP was fitted, he added.
Besides, there is an issue in the way the registration mark is printed in HSRPs. K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause (CCC) wrote a letter to the MoRTH in July saying that the printing did not conform to the specifications laid down in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR). He noted that the State code and registering authority code must form the first line and the rest of the mark must form the second line on the number plate, according to the CMVR, However, many HSRPs displayed the first alphabet of the serial number in the first line and second alphabet along with the four-digit number in the second line.
When contacted, Mr. Kathirmathiyon said the transport officials acknowledged the issue, but did not take steps to rectify it. “Traffic police may seize such vehicles [with erroneous registration marks], but there are no provisions to deem it as illegal,” he added.
The Coimbatore District Advertisement and Multi-Manufacturers Welfare Association has been vocal in opposing HSRPs since April. Its members involved in number plate manufacturing have been claiming that the HSRPs lack adequate security features. They even submitted petitions to the police and transport officials demanding action against counterfeit HSRPs.
“Fitting the vehicles with GPS (global positioning system) devices is the best method to ensure security,” claimed N. Loganathan, a member. He also raised concerns regarding the privacy of the consumers, whose vehicle registration details were being shared with the HSRP vendors.
Mr. Loganathan said that the livelihoods of small-time number plate manufacturers were hit since the enforcement of HSRPs. “The government must provide recognition for them to manufacture HSRPs,” he demanded.
However, Mr. Kathirmathiyon said that the onus was on the number plate manufacturers to prove in a court that the HSRP lacked security. He asserted that both the State and Central governments must address the issues pertaining to HSRPs such as reducing the time taken for the arrival of the plates, rectifying the registration mark in accordance with CMVR and taking steps to end the “monopoly” among the HSRP manufacturers.
A senior transport official from one of the Regional Transport Offices in the city, who spoke to The Hindu on conditions of anonymity, said that there had been a lack of proper guidelines from the government regarding HSRPs.
“We have not received any directions regarding the number plates of the existing vehicles,” the official said. Regarding the registration mark too, the official said that there had been no clear instructions.
