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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-7.html)

How is the crackdown scenario in Bangalore or Karnataka ?

I mean, Bangalore cops / RTO folks are always on the hunt for easy money minting rules. So have they put out some notice like this, or are planning ?

I recently upgraded the plates on my car from the dealer fixed plastic stickered plates to a HSRP look-alike plate. Paid 1000 bucks for the same.

I guess the Police should first start fining the dealers, Even if you put a tape on IND, the letters itself are illegal, only RTO can put up lates having INDIA embossed on the characters, No wonder there's a crackdown.
This looks exactly like the original and can easily fool the police, thereby defeating the purpose of these HSRPs.
People would be better off spending 200 rs and getting the Normal computerized no. plate from an accessories shop.

What would the police be fooled of here, may I ask? I just don't get it.

Car needs a number. As long as it's the allotted number & it's legible and in the required size, I think people should be left to drive around and lead their lives peacefully. Enough chaos in the roads, police effort be better spent on them and not stopping cars with 'IND'.

Heck, people write all sort of nonsense on Currency notes, and here the problem is for 'IND'.:Frustrati

Well, try comparing this no. plate ,the one fixed by RTO & the normal one.
Its easy to differentiate between the normal one and these 2 but very difficult to find the differences between these 2.
People do write stuff on currency notes, just like they write on the no. plates but they don't make a similar currency note.
I hope they are not just stopping cars with IND, they also need to stop cars that have IND covered but have the same design of characters as the RTO one and ask owners to go for a normal one.

Yep this is true. I know for a fact that HSRP's are mandatory in Sikkim for the last couple of years. I was surprised when the HSRP's there had a code on them, apparently without which driving the vehicle in Sikkim is illegal. Until then (2012) I was proud of my IND plates on my Swift in Bengaluru but when I realized that my IND plates did not have any such "code", I realized mine weren't genuine! Even then I went ahead and got the dealer wala IND plates last month for my Xcent just because IMO they look better than the rest.

I have never tried getting the authentic HSRP's from the RTO here in Bengaluru, but I guess I should now. Any pointers, anyone? What is the process and what do I need to provide as documents, etc?

When there IS NO such thing as an ORIGINAL format to be duplicated in TN, I find this ridiculous.

The day when it's available in Tamil Nadu and ALL (New + Old. Public, Commercial, Private, Everything!) vehicles are mandated to have these so called plates and vehicles cannot ply without anything else, come and catch offenders. Not now.

This whole High Security plates thing is a farce.

Kiku007, I guess the whole idea of TN police is to eliminate the HSRP lookalikes even before implementing it (and also generate some easy revenue). Once HSRP is implemented, it will be very tough to identify the fakes from the real ones (or at least they say so). Also, if they give a deadline to replace lookalikes with the originals, you cannot be sure how many will actually replace. Not that I am supporting their approach, but the above is the rationale of the current crackdown.

Now the owners with lookalikes have two options.
1. Replace the lookalikes with the ordinary number plates.
2. Cover the part with hologram and IND marking.

First option will mean that the owner has to discard the lookalike plate + go for a normal plate now + replace it with the HSRP once that is introduced.

Second option can actually lead them to be penalized again as sticking / painting / writing anything on the number plate other than the number itself is actually illegal.

Either ways it is the normal citizen who is affected. From a vehicle owner perspective, this is day-light robbery. When the government had not even initiated HSRP, the owner voluntarily chose to use a legible plate with embossed number paying more for it. So the government is penalizing someone for actually using a very readable and easy-to-capture on camera number plate. How funny.

Government should actually have restricted the use of the lookalikes at the dealer level and should have penalized the dealers who provide these and the guys who actually manufacture such plates with fake holograms and IND code. Instead they chose to take the easier route by penalizing the vehicle owner. Sad state of affairs, IMO.

There is no Rs 2 note printed any more in India. Does that give you the right to print your own look-alike? The US dollar is not legal tender in India. Is it OK to print imitation US dollars at home, then? This is forgery, whether the original has been implemented in the state or not.

I visited a number plate dealer last Saturday to fix my broken numberplate.

Got to know that they have received a directive from RTO to not sell any more hsrp 'lookalike' numberplates. He pointed me to a printout which he received from the RTO and has put it up for customers inquiring about the same.

So while there is no crackdown yet on the existing ones in Bangalore, RTO is ensuring no further issues of these fake hsrps.

I suppose Karnataka government hasn't begun issuing HSRPs through the RTOs and the approved vendors as yet. You should wait.

What you are saying is true, if implemented. My whole bet is on the view that it will never be implemented across board in letter and spirit.

I read that Sikkim has implemented. Did cars become secure from theft after that? We'll never know.

Seriously, that's an extreme. Comparing the plates to counterfeiting currency:D

Thanks for the tip! Just curious - wasn't the HSRP's made mandatory a while back throughout the country? I know some states have implemented it already while some haven't, but shouldn't we be able to purchase them even in states where it hasn't been wholly implemented (like KA for instance)? Just wondering.

There is a news in Bangalore Mirror today.


They were looking for vehicles with improper number plates, but caught someone who did not pay tax.

Now, there is a post in Bangalore Traffic Police page yesterday regarding this.They have posted a link as well.

Points ii & iii talk about have IND and hologram. Now where to get something that is not available yet?

Who will fine them? Number plates were not masked as this needs to be highlighted as this is a government vehicle running on illegal plates.

What about me. In 201 I bought IND plates from Utsav, (since the HSRP was stuck) for ₹1200. They were being marketed as High Quality Plates.