[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Pardon my ignorance but my local VW dealer is asking if I want "IND plates" or regular plates for my new Polo.

I like the look of the IND plates on other vehicles and the extra charge is negligible but just worried about legality here. Are IND plates legal or not in Karnataka? And if yes, does it mean that they are legal but not mandatory?

In Karnataka (lovely State this is!) the hotch-potch of legislation and High Court judgements have resulted in all number plates being illegal, depending on who you ask. The cops have gone back to enforcing the old rule now - number plate should be clear, legible, have bold and plain lettering, and be of standard size.

If you like the look of the IND plates, do go ahead and get them made for your car. But I would advise you to omit the "IND" lettering and hologram.

[gixxerboy]

I have seen many of them in Kolkata , they are easy to spot as they do not have that government riveting(i am not sure what that is) . But again mostly they can be spotted on commercial vehicles , which are used a roughest possible manner. Also when asked they say that it is a complete harassment(along with a business day's waste) for them to get replacement IND plates from the registered RTO so they go for these replica's.

[batterylow]

After the crackdown, now this.

In a bid to streamline number plates of registered motor vehicles across Tamil Nadu, the government has floated a tender inviting bids from companies for implementing the guidelines issued by the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry to introduce high-security registration plate system (HSRPS) in all motor vehicles.

The project to implement the revised Rule 50 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, as notified by the Ministry for issuance of HSRPS, would be implemented on ‘Build, Own and Operate’ basis.

“On existing registered vehicles also, the High-Security Registration Plates will be individually embossed and affixed only upon receipt of the authentication document from the Registering Authority,” the tender document states.

“The letters on the High-Security Registration Plates shall be in black colour on yellow background in case of transport vehicles and in black colour on white background in other cases. The letters of registration mark shall be in English and the figures shall be in Arabic numerals, and the letters and numerals shall be embossed and hot stamped,” it adds.

The plate should bear the letters ‘IND’ in blue colour on the extreme left centre of the plate and should be suitable for hot stamping and the reflective sheet has to be guaranteed for imperishable nature for minimum five years, one of the conditions laid down by the documents states.

More

I am curious to know how the Govt is going to identify the old "IND" plates vs the new"IND" plates.

[sgiitk]

My tuppence bit. I bought plates from Utsav (one of the HSRP concessionaires) about six years ago, when they had made the investment, all was in the doldrums so they were selling. Essentially they are HSRPs (even came with snap off bolts), but obviously no marking of the security number.

The HSRP story probably came about in a bit of paranoia and was prompted by the odd plates all over the place. Why could we not have defined a BIS standard and made it mandatory for all plates to satisfy that, I cannot understand. Even when I was in the UK in the mid 1970's you did not see odd plates, but only BSS plates, even though they were made by a local accessory shop. As for now just see the plates on all UP Govt cars - illegal to the hilt, lettering and numbers in Devanagri (often in a small size), huge UP Govt logo in the middle, and the department/position in the bottom.

I feel the law should cut both ways, make it mandatory to issue the registration in maximum 24 hours (UP takes up to four weeks), and HSRPs within three days. No relaxations allowed.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by batterylow

After the crackdown, now this.

Frankly I don't think they care. I was fined during a trip to TN last year for having IND plates.

My plates are not the blue strip ones like the ones in notification, but looks like proper RTO issued plates. So had protested with the police personnel saying it is legal, he mentioned any writing with text IND would be reason for getting fined ( which is true as per current rules). On checking with him if they would fine all PY registration vehicle since they have RTO issued plates with IND written, he was clueless. Finally said he doesn't make rules.

That said, over a period ideally only RTO issued plates would be present, which means as long as you are not able to make differce, objective of getting a common plate design is met.

[pamiboy]

Finally, at least one state government seems to be acting sensibly. In many western/ developed nations only the vehicle /licensing authority can physically issue the number plates. You simply cannot make one on your own.
I think it's a step in the right direction. It will put an end to the practice of changing the size of plates /alphabets/ numbers to fit the car and changing the font so that numbers and alphabets get confusing. A uniform number plate though unappealing to many will be really beneficial in case of emergency and / or quickly noting the number in distracting circumstances.

[nik hill]

I got my registration number plates issued from an agency contracted by haryana RTO. Even the fees is collected in secretariat.
The plates have IND embossing. Does any state RTO has a right to object to it.

[greenhorn]

I was once fined for just having embossed metal plates (just plain embossing - no IND logo or hologram etc).
This was immediately after i was fined for having a plastic number plate and got metal ones done. The shop owner swore it was legal.
Chennai cops will do anything to meet their targets i guess