Vehicles of President, VP, Governors may soon have to put up number plates

Parting with the practice of displaying just the State Emblem of India, the vehicles of constitutional authorities and dignitaries, such as the President, the Vice-President, Governors and Lieutenant Governors will soon have to display their registration numbers.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has informed the Delhi High Court that it has written to the authorities concerned to get these high-security vehicles registered.

Among all the luxuries that our politicians enjoy, one is using cars without number plates. The Motor Vehicles Act 1988 makes it mandatory for everyone to have a permanent and unique registration number for your vehicle but the politicians in the Ministry of External Affairs and even the President of India, Vice-President of India, Governors of all Indian states have been exempted of its use.

You must have noticed many times that these politicians don’t use number plates on their car and instead use the sign of national emblem. Have you ever thought of the reason behind it?

The Ministry Of External Affairs uses the cars with a national emblem to transport foreign officials and dignitaries visiting India. It’s believed to be a security protocol but other ministers like President of India, Vice-President of India and Governors have been doing it because they simply can do it.

Well, this practice is about to change now.

The road transport ministry is in the process of installing number plates in vehicles used by people who hold top constitutional posts such as the president, vice-president, governors and lieutenant governors after a non-profit group filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, saying the vehicles stood out without the number plates and could be easily identified as targets by terrorists.

The petitioner also said it would be difficult for people to trace the right owner and file for damages in case of an accident, and not showing the registration number as in any regular vehicle could be seen as disobeying the law by people in important posts. Reportedly, after banning the use of red beacons, Indian Government is going to make it compulsory for all to use registration number plates only.

The vice-president secretariat has informed that “all the vehicles of this secretariat display their registration number including vehicles being used by the Vice President of India and his spouse”, Mr Gogna said.

In a strong remark in its petition, the non-profit group Nyayabhoomi said, “The practice of replacing the registration mark with the State Emblem of India, instead of displaying them both, is arbitrary and symptomatic of the desire to rule rather than to serve.”

Nyayabhoomi’s secretary Rakesh Agarwal asked the court to direct the Delhi government and the Delhi Police to seize all the cars used by the Rashtrapati Bhawan, the vice-president, Raj Niwas and the protocol division of the foreign ministry for not being registered under the Motor Vehicles Act.