HP revises e-auction process for fancy vehicle registration numbers

3 months after person made an online bid of Rs 1.12 cr for registration number 'HP 99-9999' for scooter and later backed out, department revised e-auction process

Three months after a person made an online bid of Rs 1.12 crore for fancy registration number 'HP 99-9999' for a scooter and later backed out, the transport department on Tuesday revised the e-auction process making advance payment of 30 per cent registration fee mandatory to end such practices.

According to the new guidelines, the applicants vying for fancy numbers would have to deposit 30 per cent of the minimum special registration fee ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 1 lakh depending upon the special registration mark in advance, officials said.

The 30 per cent advance money is non-refundable and would be adjusted against the total amount of the bid. Prior to this, an applicant was required to deposit Rs 2,000 as registration fee.

The revised system has been started in Baijnath and Shimla Registration Transport Authorities (RTA) in the first phase and will be replicated by other RTAs throughout the state after successful testing, Director of Transport Anupam Kashyap said.

On February 16 last, the Registering and Licensing Authority Kotkhai received an online bid of Rs 1.12 crore for fancy registration number (HP 99-9999) for a scooty and and later found that the bidder tried to play with the system. Interestingly, three persons made bids of more than Rs 1 crore for fancy numbers.

Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, who holds the transport portfolio, had earlier directed the department to revise the e-auction system for making it more secure to avoid fake applications.