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-   -   Unauthorized IND plates declared illegal in Tamil Nadu. Crackdown begins (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/160456-unauthorized-ind-plates-declared-illegal-tamil-nadu-crackdown-begins-6.html)

All the defences of fake HSRP plates above are just staggering to me. It is simple -- the HSRP plate is meant to be secure, faking the design with the goal of fooling people is forgery and deserves to be punished. Just as printing game money (like Monopoly) is legal but printing something that looks exactly like a Rs 1000 note deserves punishment. And I am pretty sure that all the teambhp commenters above who obtained these plates from local vendors knew exactly what they were getting.

The HC bench deserves criticism on only one count -- they should have directed the RTO to start issuing the secure plates (unless they did that and it wasn't reported?) It's ten years already since the guidelines came out! There's no excuse for the delay.

Just read this thread and I was in chennai all weekend with my KA registered car which has a fake HSRP as far as I know. I must have escaped being pulled over. I remember the Chennai police being quite strict about fancy looking number plates even before. I lived in Chennai for two years (2005-2007) with my KA registered Getz with had quite a funky font. When I was pulled over I just stated that I'm from Bangalore and nobody cares about number plate fonts there. That shut them up at that time.

I have attached a picture of the plate on my car. Can anyone tell me if its a fake or original? From what I understand there shouldnt be 'blue' shading over the IND and there are no safety locks. The reflective IND texted stickers are there on the embossed fonts though. Thanks in advance!

Fake for sure. The blue background and euro-style stars aren't in the official HSRPs. Given the blatant differences maybe you'll escape being pulled over, but don't take that as legal advice! More generally, unless you got the plate in/via the RTO, it's fake, no matter how authentic it looks.

The next time you pass though TN just get a sticker pasted across the blue part and you are OK to go.

The cops only have issues with the IND logo and the hologram.( As told by a cop to an acquaintance who was pulled over). The IND text on the number per se don't seem to matter to them.

Thanks batterylow and rsidd. With the issue being so hot I am surprised I managed to get by and I was really driving all over the city and also on the highway back and forth. Will source a white sticker immediately.

Which also reminds me, when I was driving through Sri Perambadur, I saw many political vehicles with gold and black lettering on the number plate and definitely not of ministerial levels. Guess they are just too big for the law huh?

That question is rhetorical right? lol:

As long as the "VIP" class exists we will continue to see incidents like this and life will continue to go on.

Slightly OT -- the plate with the blue background and circle of stars, shown by Fullrevs above and very common on the roads in Chennai, is a "blend" of the Indian HSRP and standard European plates (which have a similar blue band on the left, with a circle of stars above and a 1-3 letter country code below -- click the link for examples from various EU countries). Indians have always lusted after American stuff, but I wonder where this recent Europhilia (in number plates, of all things) came from!

:OT
I guess a lot of people think it just looks cool - the blue band and circle of gold stars! No Europhilia at all.

Did you get the windscreen sticker along with the holograms on the number plates as the pdf?

My dad has a 2012 Jazz for which he got the HSRPs from RTO but never got the windscreen sticker.

Yes you do get the 'self destructive' windscreen sticker along with the holograms along with the plates.

Cops just got a new reason to target car owners now. I just got a white tape from a fancy shop and covered the IND and silver logo on top. Can't be visible while on the move.

I've seen a lot of other cars as well who have just scratched their plates with a screw driver to remove the logo and IND words , some have even painted it black ( not sure how that helps )

Although this is in fact a better way, I, while in Coimbatore a couple of weeks back, stuck a brown tape on the IND/ hologram stupid:

Mind you, the car traversed from Coimbatore to Chennai to Bangalore and back to Coimbatore and still was not stopped any where! We should eventually be changing the number plates.

I guess in Chennai city (or at least parts of it) the enforcement/crackdown is not very evident. Yet again this morning, I saw more than 3 cars and more than 4 bikes with the HSRP style plates and going past the traffic police and there was no bat of an eyelid. This is in and around the Porur area btw.

I dont think, they check for the IND number plates in Chennai. That said, once they stop you they would go to any length to see if they can fine (legal or other wise). Once they stopped me at Panagal Park while my Vehile was still AP registered. When they found that they could not get anything, they claimed that the Plastic registration plates are illegal. I told them that they came with the car at the time of delivery, and have been running with it so long .

Generally they are lenient to that extent, unless they have targets to meet.

I got stopped for the IND plates in Chennai today. Had to pay the legal fine of Rs.100 for improper number plate. Have put a white paper and cello tape over the IND and hologram now.