Cuttack, Sep 26 : The State Transport Authority (STA)on Monday said no e-challan shall be issued, no fine shall be collected and no penal action shall be taken against any old vehicle registered prior to April 1, 2019 for plying vehicles without High Security Registration Plate (HSRP)
if the vehicle owner has online booking slip.
STA Joint Commissioner Transport, Technical Dipti Ranjan Patra said It is observed that due to sudden rise in online booking for fitment of HSRP, some of the vehicle owners are facing difficulties for getting a slot for fitment of HSRP within the timeline.
In case any vehicle owner has applied for HSRP online before the timeline applicable to his/her vehicle, he/she shall be exempted from enforcement checking provided they produce an online booking slip during the checking.”
The deadline for affixation of HSRP on the old vehicles registered prior to April 1, 2019 carrying Odisha Registration Mark and Registration Number ending with 1, 2, 3 & 4 will end on September 30.
The law enforcing agencies shall enforce the fitment w.e.f. October 1, 2022.
Patra said, “As on 25.09.22, a total of 1,678,163 vehicle owners have booked slot, out of which
HSRP has been affixed in 730,303 vehicles.”
He said, “In case the vehicle is not affixed with HSRP within the scheduled date or the vehicle owner does not have online booking slip, e-challan shall be issued against the offending vehicle and attract fine of Rs. 5000 or Rs.10, 000 under Section 192 of M.V. Act, 1988 as the case may be.”
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Transport department has made affixation of HSRP mandatory since June 1, 2022 for all class of old vehicles which were registered prior to April 1, 2019.
He said, “Old number plates are easy to tamper with and can be misused by thieves. However, the HSRP plates come with a non-removable snap- lock and are difficult to replace. These plates are tamper-proof and come with two non-reusable locks.”
HSRP have a chromium-based Ashoka Chakra on the left, along with ‘IND‘written. The vehicle identification number will be laser encoded, which is easy to be scanned and difficult to be tampered with.