Orissa High Court to monitor fitment of HSRPs after deadline extension

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Friday fixed October 26 to assess the outcome of deadline extension by one month for fitment of High-Security Registration Plates (HSRP) against online booking by vehicle owners in the State.

The court was hearing a PIL on allegedly unreasonable and impractical HSRP deadlines without a system in place for the vehicle owners to apply for it. The petition also highlighted the lack of readily available facility for online booking by a large section of the State’s population, especially in the rural areas. Two bus owners, Pabitra Mohan Khatua and Madhav Mohanty filed the PIL.

The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Chittaranjan Dash fixed the date after the State Transport Authority (STA) counsel stated before it that steps have been taken to enable vehicle owners to book fitment of HSRP and make payment online throughout the State by involving Jana Seva Kendras/Mo Seva Kendras/Post Offices and by organising camps at different areas where internet facilities is inadequate.

When specifically asked by the court as to whether the deadline which expires today (September 30, 2022) is being extended, the STA counsel answered in the affirmative and said it is also being extended by one month to October 31.

The STA had also filed an affidavit in response to the petition. Petitioners’ counsel Kajal Sahoo pointed out to the court that reports suggest slots for fitment of HSRP against online bookings were not available till December.

The bench took note of it and said, “Let’s see what happens by October 26.”

Later in the day, STA issued a notification which extended the deadline for vehicles carrying registration numbers ending with 1, 2, 3 and 4 to October 31, 2022. While the last date for vehicle numbers ending with 5 and 6 was extended to November 30, the deadline for those ending with 7 and 8 was extended to December 31. For vehicle numbers ending with 9 and 0, the last date is January 31, 2023.