E-Paper
‘0009’ fetches RLA ₹16 lakh
Chandigarh Registering and Licensing Authority managed to auction special numbers for total of ₹87.7 lakh
At 50 times more than its reserved price, registration number ‘0009’ of the CH01BY series, fetched ₹16.03 lakh in an e-auction that concluded on Saturday.
The successful bidder was identified as Dilli Bahadur Basnet.
The reserved price for the number was ₹30,000.
The transport department’s e-auction of vanity registration numbers for vehicles fetched the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA) ₹87.7 lakh, with 286 people participating in the bidding process.
Successful bidders walked away with the fancy number of their choice after participating in the online bidding process.
According to RLA officials, the registration number ‘0007’, with a minimum reserve price of ₹30,000, was bought by Pushpinder Singh at ₹5.25 lakh while the number ‘0005’ fetched the RLA ₹3.89 lakh. (See box for details).
Singh, a Chandigarh-based businessman, said he bought the number on luxury car (Mercedes GLX) for his wife.
The successful bidders will be required to get their vehicles registered as well as deposit the balance bid amount within one month from the date of auction, failing which a penalty of 10 per cent as well as interest at the rate of 10 per cent on the balance amount will be charged till the date of payment.
The result of the auction has been put on the RLA website and the successful bidders will be informed through SMS and e-mail, the officials said.
In the past, the number ‘0001’ has been most sought after by individuals.
The highest bid for the number came in 2012 when a resident of Sector 44 spent ₹26.05 lakh for the vanity number on his S-class Mercedes Benz.
Same year, agriculturist-businessman Jagjit Singh Chahal paid ₹17 lakh for the fancy number on his ₹85-lakh Toyota Land Cruiser.
Former Haryana director general of police (DGP) SPS Rathore had also successfully bid ₹10 lakh for the same number.
In 2013, a man bought ‘0001’ for his Audi Q7 for ₹10.05 lakh.
The RLA is also revising its current policy, under which anybody wanting a fancy registration number for his new vehicle had to buy the fancy number first and then purchase the vehicle. The vehicles in such cases were registered only if owners had already bought fancy numbers. The current policy was introduced alongside the introduction of the dealer-point registration in the city on August 13. Fancy registration numbers are purchased through an auction.Under the revised policy, the automobile dealer will be allowed to generate a temporary number for the purchased vehicle.
