Vehicle registration number plates with letters “IND” which were touted as ‘high security’ number plates for the past few years have now suddenly become “defective number plates,” with police across the State penalising vehicle owners with such number plates.
The police have been checking for vehicles with such number plates in Madurai city and Madurai rural police limits since last Saturday as part of the State-wide drive. While the city police have registered over 300 cases so far, the district police have been booking around 20 cases every day, police sources said.
“We are only carrying out the instructions from Chennai,” a police officer clarified on the sudden drive.
The drive, a police source said, had been carried out to file a counter petition in a case filed in High Court. “Someone has filed a case that these number plates with “IND” were defective in nature violating the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Hence, we are imposing fines on the violators,” the officer said.
The Centre in the past had mulled introduction of high security number plates with a magnetic chip. However, the plan had not been officially implemented.
“But, some people made a replica of the high security number plate only in its look by including the letters “IND” and a hologram,” the police officer said.
“Such number plates are available in the market and also seen in many vehicles for the last three years. Even the police and officials of Regional Transport Offices were not aware of this violation until this case in court,” the officer said.
Interestingly, many of the vehicles of police officers too have the “IND” mark, said the police officer.
Though the fine amount is a meagre Rs. 100, the vehicle owners feel cheated and quarrel with the police. “They claim that as to why the plates were allowed to be sold and what were the police and RTOs doing all these years,” an officer said.
They want the government to give a deadline with a minimum of 15 days to replace such “defective” number plates.
