Mangaluru: Traffic Cops Crack Down on Fancy Number Plates

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Mangaluru: The traffic police embarked on a drive against fancy number plates not adhering to the Motor Vehicles Act norms in the city here, on December 1.

The traffic police of Mangaluru East and Traffic Sub-Division were seen in action at the Koti Chennaya Circle and Jeppu and have seized two vehicles.

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Speaking to Mangalorean.com, ACP of Traffic Sub-Division Uday Nayak said that many people do not follow the traffic rules. One car was found running with the speedometer reading of over 9000 kilometers without a number plate. The car was seized and a penalty will be imposed on the owner for not completing the registration formalities and running the vehicle on road without a number plate.

Another car, registered in Maharastra, was being used in Mangaluru from the past 8 months. When the car was spotted on the Jeppu-Jerosa road, the traffic police stopped the car for inspection. The driver of the vehicle did not carry any relevant documents. Later, the owner of the car arrived at the spot and produced the necessary documents.

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A two-wheeler without number plates was also seized. The Mangaluru North Traffic Police under the leadership of ACP Uday Nayak registered 61 cases and collected Rs 7000 penalty.

The traffic police of Mangaluru East registered 75 cases and collected a penalty of Rs 7500. Speaking to mangalorean.com, Police Inspector Suresh Kumar said, “This will be a continuous process. We are trying to bring awareness among the people to follow the traffic rules. We are inspecting vehicles for defective registration plates. Fancy number plates are not allowed on any vehicles. We will remove those fancy number plates and a penalty of Rs 100 will be imposed. We will continue this process in and around the city. Anyone driving motor vehicles with registration number plates that do not conform to the specifications will be penalized.”

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He further said that displaying single, double or triple digit numbers are not allowed. Zeros will have to be added before the number to match four digits, i.e 0001 or 0011, 0123, etc.

Many of the ministers and government officials have single or double digit number plates on their vehicles. They should hence forth comply with the traffic rules and replace their number plates accordingly.

Sub-inspector Shivakumar, PSI K Ramachandra, constable Vijay Shetty, Dayanand, Taslim Arif  and  Padmanabh K and  were also present.

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12 Comments

  1. Kudos for Carrying the news on defective Number Plates. I think it is necessary to Put an article as to what a legal number plate is. The rules are attached herewith.

    it should be however noted that all number plates yesterday were defective either because of the Fonts, or were stickered on to a plastic Plate or were not complete. for Eg: KA19E5 is not the Number. it is KA19E0005.

    What is interesting to note is that in TN, the IND Plates sold in Karnataka have been declared illegal and through my interaction with a few cops i have learnt that even they do not know about this TN HC Judgement. probably you can obtain a soundbyte from ACP Uday Nayak on legally valid Number Plates.

    Here is the newslink:

    Police wake up to ‘defective’ number plates after a case was filed in HC

    Vehicle registration number plates with letters “IND” which were touted as ‘high security’ number plates for the past few years have now suddenly become “defective number plates,” with police across the State penalising vehicle owners with such number plates.

    The police have been checking for vehicles with such number plates in Madurai city and Madurai rural police limits since last Saturday as part of the State-wide drive. While the city police have registered over 300 cases so far, the district police have been booking around 20 cases every day, police sources said.

    “We are only carrying out the instructions from Chennai,” a police officer clarified on the sudden drive.

    The drive, a police source said, had been carried out to file a counter petition in a case filed in High Court. “Someone has filed a case that these number plates with “IND” were defective in nature violating the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Hence, we are imposing fines on the violators,” the officer said.

    The Centre in the past had mulled introduction of high security number plates with a magnetic chip. However, the plan had not been officially implemented.

    “But, some people made a replica of the high security number plate only in its look by including the letters “IND” and a hologram,” the police officer said.

    “Such number plates are available in the market and also seen in many vehicles for the last three years. Even the police and officials of Regional Transport Offices were not aware of this violation until this case in court,” the officer said.

    Interestingly, many of the vehicles of police officers too have the “IND” mark, said the police officer.

    Though the fine amount is a meagre Rs. 100, the vehicle owners feel cheated and quarrel with the police. “They claim that as to why the plates were allowed to be sold and what were the police and RTOs doing all these years,” an officer said.

    They want the government to give a deadline with a minimum of 15 days to replace such “defective” number plates.

    • in Continuation to what I have said earlier:

      The Number Plate dimensions and Size of Fonts are specified in The MV Act (Rule 50, 51 of MV Act, 1989). Plastic/ Fibre Number plates, Number plates with names of Gods, Kids, Families, Designation, Fancy lettering, Vinyl Cutout Lettering (words such as ‘Govt of India UT’ or official Designations ) are all not legal. The Number Plates that are legal need to be either embossed or Painted. the IND Number Plates which are supposed to be High Security Plates that are sold in Karnataka are actually held to be illegal and tantamount to fake notes by the Madras High Court sometime in Jan 2015.

      More information on Number plates can be found here: http://www.htp.gov.in/Annexure-I.pdf

  2. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT IF THE NUMBER PLATES ARE ISSUED BY RTO OR A RTO APPROVED VENDOR WHO IS DIRECTLY MONITORED BY RTO SO SUCH A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY DOESNT HAPPEN.

  3. Fancy Registration Number Plates
    The Traffic Dept. must issue one and the same design, font, and color number plates at the time of
    Registration to all vehicles, 2-wheeler, 4-wheeler, or 6-wheeler, etc.
    This can be done by outsourcing to a reputed workshop, that fabricates number plates.
    Charges should be On-Cost basis.
    PROBLEM SOLVED – All other countries practice it, why can’t India?

    Wearing Safety Helmets: why only Students, the ones those are not students too die everyday in
    Udupi and Manganlore, due to lack of a safety helmet. All countries practice SAFETY HELMET a must
    for 2-wheeler-3-Wheeler Rider as well as Pillion Rider. Why can’t India practice it too.

    Well engineered roads and good quality roads, traffic lights at all cross roads and junctions, traffic
    rules and warning signs in Bold large size on large boards on roads, pedestrian crossing markings,
    etc., timely repairs of damaged roads, potholes, roads with landslides, etc., are the responsibilities
    of the Traffic Dept. in conjunction with the MPW and the Municipality

    Looking out for over-speeding 2-wheeler, 4-wheeler, and bus and truck drivers,
    Looking out for over-loading of people in tempos, private buses, 2-wheelers
    Driving on the wrong side of the roads
    Driving without any number plates
    ARE ALL THE RESPONSIBILITIES of the Traffic Dept.

    Maintaining an special uniform color for Police vehicles is also a necessity – as of today there is
    no uniformity – some are white, others are dark blue, others are gray – and they all carry a small
    POLICE sticker on the bumper. Check out Police vehicles in other countries – We too can do the same

    Right now every thing with regards to the Traffic Dept. and the Traffic is a mess.
    Fancy number plates have been existing since years now – how come the Traffic
    cops just noticed them!

    It’s just a matter of taking on the challenge to run an effective Traffic Dept.

  4. It’s funny how they are telling us to abide by the sudden roar of a new number plate rule which was there in the books for a while but not being practiced. But anyways it’s funny to see all the government and cop vehicles still roaming around with fancy or stickers number plates…

    The law setter must show themselves as a good role model for others to follow.

  5. Hope this number plate rules apply to the police department as well as other officials, ministers etc etc…. Sunfilms are banned here and the comman man is stopped and fined for use of it but most of the ministers and other officials vehicle run with sunfilms… According to the SC nothing can be stuck to the glass having any %VLT …. In fact I saw the mayors new Innova getting tinted! So whether it’s a light shade o dark sunfilm is a sunfilm itself and rules apply to all! Why is that only comman people gotta follow this?

  6. The very purpose of number plate is to identify a vehicle. And so the number plate needs to be of a fixed size and design. Most people choose to go for a sticker since it is cheap. Others want it fancy. In my opinion, the most secure and clearest is the ones like Speedex number plates. This is supposed to be the RTO’s job.

    The RTO must themselves print the number plate and install it on to the vehicle during registration process and Include this charge in registration fees. This is the format followed in most countries. This way the RTO knows if the vehicle although registered, has even installed a number plate and is it of the right size for that vehicle.

    Also, the government is burdening the police department to waste their time in such useless activities. How many of the millions of vehicles are they going to inspect and remove the plates themselves.

    Also, it’s not the vehicle owners fault because he can see even government department vehicles with just mere stickers or painted on the vehicles body itself or sometimes the municipality vehicles don’t even have a number plate. He kept it at home and forgot to get it. So don’t penalise the car owners unless you set an example.

    Make use of the law for good.

  7. For us in UAE, number plates are issued by the RTA so there us no dispute whatsoever. We can also get fancy plates, if we pay more. In Mangalore unfortunately, there is lack of knowledge and absence of mechanism therefore our traffic police suddenly wake up and issue fines instead of clearly issuing guidelines and grace period to make the changes.

  8. dont worry guys, they catch only once a year. go back and put the same board. i am sure you guys can afford.

  9. Also please fine the lorry drivers who drive continuously on speed lane in one way roads, tempting other vehicles to overtake from wrong side. Lane disciplane is rarely followed in India on highways.

  10. what a fustration i have been caught up for a number plate (normal number plate well displayed with normal font) suddenly trraffic police stood up and fined me rs 100… how pathetic even in receipt he mentioned name of offence as side mirror (while i have side mirror) when i asked him aqbt this he started scolding … so many tym i have been caught no one has notified me with number plate , when i told him abt this he told for different health problem there is a different doctor ,,u dont teach us what to do…i said it rubbish
    itz not abt money ,it abt the law and knowledge.. this clearly show how they are making money..

    another story it was late night i had helmet in my hand bcz of high beem of opposite vehicle itz very difiicult to ride @ night, suddenly police stopped me and fined me again 100..
    dear sir i respect the safety policy but u guyz should try once @ night with helmet on head from mangalore to moodbidri route.. how opposite vehicles flashes their high beem light on face and u wont be able to recognise the road @ all… if u dare.and order us not to use illegal light @ bike…. where is the safety if it is not comfortable to ride

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