Change of vehicle registration, officials in a tizzy

HYDERABAD : Transport officials expressed their helplessness at minister P Mahender Reddy's suggestion to change the series of all vehicle registrations from 'AP' to 'TS' within the next four months.

Officials said that the minister's wish would be a real daunting task for both 73 lakh vehicle owners in Telangana and RTA officials, who are severely understaffed.

The Transport Minister had announced that all vehicles in the State would have to change their vehicle number series from 'AP' to 'TS' in 120 days.

The Centre issued gazette notification allowing the State government to change the State series from 'AP' to 'TS'. According to officials in the department, as per the rules and practices only newer vehicle series need to be changed and the older series (AP) would continue to stay.

'Changing the number plates by 73 lakh vehicle owners and that too with the present staff strength is highly impossible for us. We will inform about this to the minister soon,' said a top official in the department.

As per the decision of the minister, only the State code would be changed from 'AP' to 'TS' and the remaining numbers would be the same, the official said.

In Chhattisgarh, one can find many vehicles with MP series. Only new vehicles are allocated the 'Ch' series there, said the official.

The officials wanted the minister to keep the change of series an optional one as this would not be a burden on vehicle owners as well as the department. The official pointed out that there were many vehicles that still have older numbers even after AP came into existence.

Giving an example, the official said in Hyderabad one can still find vehicle numbers such as AHX, HYZ etc, which have not been changed.

In 1989, the Union government changed the Central Motor Vehicle Act and brought out a special series for every state like AP, MP, HP etc. The district codes are decided by the respective State governments.

Officials are also worried as the government plans to increase the number of districts from 10 to 24. 'This would mean reshuffling the district codes yet again.

We are also yet to get a direction on the launch of high security number plates, which has been made mandatory by the Supreme Court,' the official said.

'We have time and again raised the issue when the process of bifurcation was going on, but the government did not hear to our pleas,' said an auto union leader.

The officials have decided to re-brief the minister about the hurdles for changing of series for all the 73 lakh vehicles and are hoping to convince him.