Punjab chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh has ordered the discontinuation of 2 digit or old registration numbers of vehicles running in the state to stop their misuse by owners as status symbol, often tricking police not to check them.
The chief minister asked the Transport Department to stop the practice of transferring special and old registration numbers of an old vehicle to a new vehicle of the owner. He has asked the transport department to issue alternative valid numbers to owners of vehicles with such numbers, which were already banned in neighbouring states like Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, as per Section 217 read with Section 41 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
Besides promoting VIP culture, as these vehicle owners prefer to retain old registration numbers as a status symbol, the use of old numbers has also become a security hazard in the border state of Punjab, the state government said in a statement. Vehicles with these so-called VIP numbers are often misused by anti-social elements to carry out subversive activities as these vehicles are often not stopped or checked by police, it said.
Further, with such registration numbers used on multiple vehicles over the years, the identification of original owners becomes difficult as old records either become untraceable or are destroyed to accommodate VIPs, it further said.
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