New licence plate launch put off

The Union ministry of shipping, road transport and highways has notified that the last date for implementation of high-security number plates in new automobiles has been pushed back to May 31, 2005. The earlier deadline was January 1.

This will effectively mean the implementation of the number plates for vehicles already plying will be pushed to 2006.

According to automobile industry sources, there are an estimated 60 million vehicles already plying in the country, and they will have to wait for a high-security number plate for a year more.

A notification from the ministry, dated December 23, 2004, to amend The Central Motor Vehicles (1st Amendment) Rules, said: "In the said rules, in Rule 1, sub-Rule (2) for the words, figures and letters 'on 1st January, 2005', the words, figures and letters 'on 31st May, 2005', shall be substituted."

Some number plate manufacturers had attempted to get a stay on this order, finding fault with the tendering process of the regional transport offices (RTOs). These petitions had been vacated by the Supreme Court on November 30.

The present notification gives RTOs five months' time to float tenders for procuring the high-security number plates.

When contacted, government officials were unable to give reasons for the new date. Automobile industry sources, however, pointed out that under the earlier deadline there was hardly any time available for implementation of the new licence plates on such a large scale.