NASHIK: For stricter enforcement of road safety rules, the State Transport Division has issued direction to all the Regional Transport Offices to not pass vehicles and hand over to the registered owner without ensuring that High-Security Registration Plates (HSRP) are fitted to new vehicles.
“The dealers violating the rules and instructions of the transport division would be fined for Rs. 10,000,” warned the state transport authority. The sell-out vehicles should not be handed over to the buyer if his vehicle is not fitted with HSRP number-plate, it added.
In a move that is set to offer extra protection against vehicle theft, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has announced that High-Security Registration Plates (HSRP) will be mandatory on all vehicles manufactured on or after January 1, 2019. In Maharashtra, HSRPs have become mandatory on all vehicles from April 1, 2019.
However, the vehicles had to wait for 15-20 days to get HSRP. In the meantime, state transport commissioner Shekhar Channe had made certain changes in the processing of number-plate and also had instructed vehicle companies to increase suppliers of HSRP plates so as to bring down the processing time to eight days from 20 days.
According to new instructions of the state transport division to all the RTOs, the registered owner of the vehicle should not be given possession of his/her vehicle until and unless HSRP is fitted in a span of two days. The criteria is applicable to all the pending cases also. Generally, number plate installation process takes 7 to 8 days.
HSRPs can also be fitted to existing vehicles, but only once the old plates have been surrendered and destroyed. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had issued circular clarifying that vehicle manufacturers can produce their own HSRP — provided they obtain a Type Approval certificate from a Central Government-authorised testing agency — or procure them from a company that already makes them.
The circular also mentions that the HSRP will come with a 15-year guarantee. If it breaks, withers or suffers any other natural damage within that time period, it will have to be replaced by the dealer who fitted it.
