The Supreme Court has directed the Centre and all states to implement High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) for vehicles in a time-bound manner and take strict action against those violating the rules.
A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur directed the Union government to create a nationwide common repository of vehicular registration data for achieving the basic objective behind the idea of the HSRP scheme and ensure its smooth implementation at the grass roots level.
The court disposed of a batch of contempt petitions against those who failed to comply with the directions issued for the use of HSRP. Acting on a PIL by former Congress leader Maninderjit Singh Bitta, the apex court had on December 8, 2011, directed for implementation of the scheme.
“The central government and state government are directed to strictly regulate as well as monitor the implementation as per the provisions of law including the provisions of Motor Vehicles (New High Security Registration Plates) Order, 2001,” the bench, also comprising Justices R K Agrawal and R Banumathi, said.
The court directed HSRP contracts be awarded following a transparent tender process. Factors such as topographical and geographical conditions, vehicular population, adequate infrastructure, cost of managing logistics, equipment and human resources must be considered before accepting any bid and entering into a contract, it said. “States must ensure that entire responsibility of HSRP project would remain with one entity which would be responsible for manufacturing, affixation of seals, imprinting of numbers, etc. It is directed that concessionaire would be exclusively responsible for the entire process,” the bench said.
Published 16 July 2016, 19:23 IST