According to the Motors Vehicles Act of 1988, all motorised vehicles running on Indian roads must have an RTO registration and a valid license plate.
The Ministry of Roads and Highways (MoRTH) has brought about some changes in the existing rules related to the vehicle registration plate to restrict fraudulent activities as well as to eliminate any confusion.
The changes in the rules were made after the 1989 amendment. Below are the updates that came into effect from 1st October 2020.
- As per the new update, driving new motor vehicles with a paper-printed temporary registration number will be considered an offense.
- Temporary license plates will no longer follow the previous colour scheme. Instead, it will come with red alpha numerals on a yellow background.
- MoRTH has discarded the presence of any characters except the basic English letters and Arabic numerals. In addition, the new update has banned the usage of any regional language, including VIP numbers sold or auctioned by the various states or Union Territories.
- Further, The Ministry of Roads and Highways has also upgraded the Central Motors Vehicles Rules (CMVR). The new rule states the size, thickness and spacing between the characters in the number plate. As per the new rule, the sizes of the three parameters are 65 mm, 10 mm, and 10 mm, respectively. Please note that these rules are applicable on all motor vehicles barring the two and three-wheeled vehicles.
- The new update also includes BS-VI four-wheelers. These vehicles will have to bear a green coloured layer of 1 cm on the number plate. Moreover, these rules will be applicable to four-wheelers running in petrol/diesel/CNG.
- BS-VI four-wheelers will also have a sticker attached to the green layer. The vehicles running in diesel will have an orange coloured sticker and the vehicles running in CNG and petrol will bear a blue coloured sticker.
Till now, we have discussed the colour scheme of different types of number plates. However, other vehicle licensing plates are distinguished based on validity (temporary, permanent) and security.
Take a look!
- Temporary registration plate- As the name suggests, a temporary vehicle registration plate is assigned to a brand new vehicle that is yet to get registered by the respective RTO. The temporary registration number plate comes with a validity period of one month. As per the updated norms released by MoRTH, all temporary registration plates will come with colour-coded alpha-numerals depending on the vehicle type.
- Permanent registration plate- According to Section 39 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, all vehicle owners must get their permanent registration number from the respective RTO before plying on Indian roads. A permanent registration number is an identification number that is unique to every vehicle.
- High security registration plates- As per the Central Motor Vehicles Rule 1989, all registered vehicles after 1st April 2019 must bear a High security registration plate or (HSRP). This new norm is applicable for all old vehicles having old number plates. High security registration plate is made with aluminium and features a unique laser-etched code below the International Registration Code of India (IND) and Ashok Chakra hologram.
- In addition, this number plate comes with snap-locks which makes it non-reusable after an attempt to tamper it. High security registration plate is standard across India and aims to maintain a digitised record of all registered vehicles.
- Fancy number plate- Fancy number plates enable your vehicle to bear a customised number plate in terms of font and size. However, before you opt for fancy number plates, make sure you learn about the new norms related to the personalised option.
Do you know that driving with a number plate displaying ‘Applied For’ or without a number plate can incur a penalty of Rs. 100 under section CMVR 105(2) (ii) and Rs.4500 under 177 Motor Vehicle Act, respectively?
Now that you know about the penalty charges and different types of number plates as per the colour scheme, applying for a vehicle registration plate will not be a hassle anymore.