Delhi vehicle owners will now have to upgrade to high security number plates as early as tomorrow, October 13, 2018. Should the owners fail to upgrade their vehicle number plate to high security ones, they could be imposed a fine if ₹ 500 or even worse go to jail for three months. While new vehicles are already equipped with these high security registration plates, the move will largely affect old vehicle owners that have been running with regular plates. The Delhi transport department estimates this number to around 40 lakh vehicles including both four-wheelers and two-wheelers.
The switch to high security registration plates has been in the pipeline for a while now, in a bid to curb vehicular theft and the use of vehicles for contraband activities with swapped number plates. The high security number plates are made of aluminum and come with reflective tapes. The plates are tamper-proof equipped with a chromium-based and self-destructive hologram, which is hot stamped on the plate. In addition, a sticker on the plate carries lall the essential details including the vehicle's engine and chassis number and laser-branding of a 10-digit permanent identification number.
The upgradation to the new registration plates will be a cost that vehicle owners will have to bare. The cost for a high security number plate on a two-wheeler is reportedly about ₹ 67, while that on a four-wheeler is said to be about ₹ 213. Owners need to head to any of the 13 special centres created near RTOs across Delhi for the fitment of these plates. Owners need to carry their vehicle registration documents at the time of installation.
The switch to high security number plates was first announced in 2012 by the Supreme Court. However, the actual execution of the order has taken a while and while Delhi is one of the first Union Territories to impose the rule. In addition, the Supreme Court has also ordered that vehicles in Delhi will have to have stickers to identify the fuel being used to run them. While a blue sticker will denote petrol vehicles and CNG powered vehicles, the diesel vehicles will get an orange sticker. The stickers will be installed at the same time as the high security number plates.
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