Number plate standoff continues in Tealangana
HYDERABAD: Even after Hyderabad High Court questioned the Telangana government's decision to ask vehicle owners in the State to go for re-registration of their vehicles and add TS to their number plates in place of AP, there seems to be no clarity on whether the government will implement this.
The Telangana government had issued a GO on June 17, 2014, directing all vehicle owners to change their number plates from AP to TS through a process of re-registration.
The high court had questioned its power to issue such a GO. In response, the Telangana government said that even though it is in favour of re-registration of vehicles in the new State, it has not taken any final decision on the issue and is yet to issue a final notification.
Nearly a month later, there is still no clarity on whether the government will continue to persist with their insistence on asking people to change their number plates or if they will leave the matter alone.
'As of now, we are only registering the new vehicles with the TS number plates. We have not received any instructions or guidelines regarding the change of number plates from AP to TS for those which have the AP number plate and once we receive further instructions, we can proceed further,' said G Panduranga Rao, Joint Commissioner, Telangana Transport Department.
For non-commercial vehicles, a life-time tax is paid by the owners at the time of registration of the vehicle. This means that there is no monetary benefit in terms of revenue to the government by changing the number plates from AP to TS.
The question remains on whether commercial vehicles registered in AP, such as lorries or private buses which pay taxes on a quarterly basis, will pay taxes to the AP government or the Telangana government. Officials maintain that they are yet to receive instructions to proceed further.
Earlier, it was suggested that a web-based system will be set up to help motorists with the re-registration process through their website www.telangana.gov.in.
However, such a situation may not even arise if the government decides to dismiss the re-registration process.
News Posted: 10 September, 2014
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