CHENNAI: Soon, film stars, politicians and other VVIPs who pick out fancy registration numbers for their vehicles for numerology reasons or otherwise will have to shell out double the usual fee. A G.O to this effect will be passed, said officials.
The home transport department’s draft notification dated October 7 said, the fee for obtaining 96 special registration numbers, reserved by the State in a G.O., was enhanced by 100%. These numbers are between 0001 and 9999.
This move is expected to add a few crore to the State exchequer’s purse, over the next few years. It may be noted the transport department’s earnings were Rs 5,626.8 crore for 2021-22. If more than one vehicle owner applies for the same number, the one that paid the highest road tax will be assigned the lucky number. The fee for purchasing these numbers online, for both cars and two-wheelers, was hiked.
The rates for special numbers allotted by the State increased from Rs 40,000 to 80,000 for the first four series including the current series. The series refers to the alphabet before the four-digit registration number. The fee for series 5 to 8 was hiked from Rs 60,000 to Rs 1.2 lakh and for series 9 to 10 from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. The fee of Rs 4 lakh will be charged for allocating the series 11 to 12 as against the existing fee of Rs 2 lakh.
For purchasing fancy numbers other than 96 special numbers at RTOs, motorists must check the last registered number at the RTO and choose numbers from the next 1000 numbers online, accordingly shall pay the fee in advance.
Multiple fee slabs were introduced depending on the price of the vehicle, said an official.
