The transport department has set January 20 as the deadline for owners of private cars and two-wheelers to obtain their smart cards, replacing the registration certificates issued by the public vehicles department (PVD).

Owners failing to collect the smart cards within the deadline will run the risk of their vehicles being tagged illegal and impounded by police or motor vehicles inspectors. A penalty will also be charged if the vehicles are put on road.

Drivers must carry valid documents of the vehicle, including the registration certificate (blue book), tax token and a pollution-under-control (PUC) certificate. The driver is bound to produce the documents if the traffic policeman on duty asks for them.

?As the blue book will stand cancelled after the deadline ends, any vehicle without a smart card will be treated as plying without a valid document and police will exact spot fines as per the motor vehicle rules,?? a PVD official said.

Cracking the deadline whip follows a reluctance of car-owners to obtain the cards.

Of 7.5 lakh private vehicles ? 3.45 lakh cars and 4.05 lakh two-wheelers ? registered with the PVD, only 1.23 lakh owners have obtained smart cards.

?We have set a deadline on issuing smart cards. The process cannot continue indefinitely. Many car-owners have not collected the cards. We hope they will abide by the rules and collect their cards by January 20 to avoid legal and other problems,?? said PVD director H. Mohan.

PVD officials, however, feel that at best, another lakh owners may meet the card deadline. Which means, more than 500,000 private cars and two-wheelers will ply illegally.

The transport department, in a notification issued in June 2005, had made it mandatory for all vehicle-owners to obtain the cards.

?We started issuing the cards from June-end last year. Special counters were opened for the purpose. But we are disappointed with the turnout. Our repeated pleas, including sending individual letters to vehicle-owners, have fallen on deaf ears,?? said assistant director of PVD (registration), Manab Chakraborty.

The PVD plans to issue smart cards to replace the laminated driving licences, too.

However, there is no deadline for collecting cards for commercial vehicles. PVD officials said smart cards for commercial vehicles would be issued as and when the owners would come to the PVD to pay tax or renew permits.