A lacklustre bidding session was suddenly ignited as three bidders attempted to out do each other for one coveted number. The winner, eventually pledged Rs. 1.30 lakh – in addition to the Rs. 75,000 placed as a minimum bid amount – to walk away with the vehicle registration plate ending with ‘9999’ here on Tuesday.
Nearly 22 bidders arrived at the Transport Commissioner’s office to bid on 50 numbers opened under the Indiranagar RTO (KA 03) ‘MX’ series (that is, the highest bid number plate will read KA 03 MX 9999).
Eventually, 11 ‘special’ numbers saw bids, cumulating Rs. 1.80 lakh – and adding the minimum registration amount of Rs. 75,000 for each number, the government will receive Rs. 10.05 lakh for the registration plates.
While most numbers – such as ‘0999’, ‘0045’, ‘0099’, ‘0007’, ‘5555, ‘0555’ – went for Rs. 1,000 (over the Rs. 75,000 minimum registration amount), ‘0001’ went for Rs. 41,000 while ‘9999’ will now adorn the luxury SUV owned by Natraj Nagarahalli after he pays the department Rs. 2.05 lakh in all.
“This is a lucky number, and we expected that the bid will go up to this much,” said Satish S., who bid on the plate on behalf of Mr. Nagarahalli.
The open auction system – which is in force for the second time, after a new series (for instance ‘MX’) was thrown up for Jnanabharathi RTO last week – will ensure a transparent manner of obtaining ‘special’ vehicle registration numbers.
“Before this, there were cases of people using influence or getting us letters from political representatives asking for special numbers. Moreover, each number had a price of Rs. 75,000. Now, the government can get excess income from the bid as well as make it open to all,” said Transport Commissioner Rame Gowda after the auctions on Tuesday.
The next ‘series’ is expected to be opened in six months; and 50 numbers (out of 999 numbers between 0001 and 9999) will be available on auction.
