Bhubaneswar, May 30: Five years after the state government initiated a move to introduce high security registration plates for all motor vehicles, the transport department has floated a tender for this purpose earlier this month.
Previous attempts of floating the tenders were scuttled because of legal hurdles. Both the times in 2010 and 2012, the issue landed in Orissa High Court, thus delaying the process.
The high security plates are tamper-proof and have several features, including an original chromium hologram, a laser number containing the alphanumeric identification of both the testing agency and manufacturers. The plates would also have a barcode and the characters will be printed on the plate for better visibility.
Another unique feature of these plates is the snap lock, which will hold the number plate in place on the vehicle. “Any attempt to replace or remove the lock will break it, making it impossible to install any other number plate on
the vehicle,” said a transport official.
Transport department commissioner Chandra Shekhar Kumar said they have floated the tender with the approval of the high court. “We would also seek the high court’s approval before finalising the tender,” Kumar said.
“The new registration plates would be highly beneficial in preventing crime, as the plates can not be changed. They can only be replaced with the approval of the concerned regional transport office (RTO),” said another transport official.
The official added that the vehicle owners needed to spend around Rs 100 to install the high security number plates on two-wheelers and Rs 200 for four-wheelers. They can also replace their existing ones with the permission of the RTO concerned. “Once the system is introduced, we will issue a time limit for the existing vehicle owners to replace the registration plates with the new ones,” said the official.
At present, the government has around 52 lakh vehicles registered with the RTOs. Around four lakh vehicles register every year.
In 2005, the Centre had amended the Rule 50 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, mandating the introduction of tamper-proof registration plates. While several states, including Gujarat, Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, have already implemented the rule, several others such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha are yet to do it.
