Can’t put a price on passion, is what former Chandigarh mayor and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Davesh Moudgil had to say as he walked away with fancy number CH01-DD-0001 after paying a whopping ₹53.8 lakh in an e-auction conducted by the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA) on Friday. Moudgil has purchased the VIP number for his Toyota Fortuner Legender, which costs around ₹50 lakh.
This is the highest-ever bid recorded for a vehicle registration number since auctioning of fancy numbers began in Chandigarh in the 2002.
The city’s craze for fancy numbers is evident from the fact that the RLA makes roughly ₹12 crore every year by auctioning fancy numbers. Each auction fetches around ₹3 crore.
In the auction on Friday, the authority was able to generate a total revenue of ₹4.48 crore.
As per the official records, while the registration number CH01-DD-0001 fetched the highest bid of ₹53.88 lakh, CH01-DD-0003 emerged as the second most expensive number, attracting a bid of ₹32.32 lakh against a reserve price of ₹50,000 (see box).
Moudgil, who has purchased the VIP number for his Toyota Fortuner Legender, costing around ₹50 lakh, told HT, “I have always had a craze for fancy numbers.”
{{/usCountry}}Moudgil, who has purchased the VIP number for his Toyota Fortuner Legender, costing around ₹50 lakh, told HT, “I have always had a craze for fancy numbers.”
{{/usCountry}}Stating that his other vehicles too have special numbers, Moudgil said that he often follows the advice of his astrologer while choosing such numbers.
When asked about placing the highest bid, he replied, “You can’t put a price on passion.”
Moudgil served as the Chandigarh mayor in 2018 and is currently an advocate practising at the Punjab and Haryana high court. Active in the BJP for nearly three decades, he has held several key positions in the party, including that of deputy mayor and senior deputy mayor.