Maharashtra vehicles may soon get tamper-proof high-security registration plates

Maharashtra government has set up a scrutiny committee, led by additional chief secretary (planning), to issue tenders for the plates

Vehicles in Maharashtra may soon get tamper-proof (HSRP) to help curb thefts.

Navi Mumbai, India - March 29, 2016: Sion Panvel highway blocked due to protest by Jewellers Association at CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai , India , on Tuesday, March 29, 2016.(Photo by Bachchan Kumar/ Hindustan Times) (Bachchan Kumar)

The Maharashtra government has set up a 10-member scrutiny committee, led by additional chief secretary (planning), to issue tenders for the plates.

The Supreme Court has made these plates mandatory for all vehicles. While some states implemented the directions, Maharashtra couldn’t. Reason: the tendering process for the plates was put hold in 2015, after the Centre proposed a new road transport and safety bill. The state wanted to look at the new registration process that would be introduced in the bill before making the plates mandatory. But as the new bill has now been scrapped, the state has decided to go ahead with it.

According to sources in the transport department, the committee, which will look into the financial and technical bids for the number plates, will have additional chief secretaries or principal secretaries of finance, law and judiciary, transport, information technology and public works department, transport commissioner, joint commissioner of Mumbai Police (traffic) and a representative of Pune-based Automobile Research Association of India as its members. The deputy transport commissioner (computers) will be member-secretary of the panel.

Made of aluminium, the plates have retro-reflective film with verification inscription India, chromium-based Ashok Chakra hologram, hot-stamped letter IND in blue and a seven-digit unique serial number to avoid duplication. They also have a snap lock that makes it almost impossible to be removed or tampered with.

The government had formed the scrutiny committee under the chairmanship of principal secretary of the finance department on October 25, 2013. But within a month, the state decided to replace the principal secretary of the planning department with the principal secretary of finance department. Later, it put the re-constitution of the committee on hold.

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