Number Plates Mandatory for President, Lt. Governor Cars, Delhi High Court Directs AAP Government

The Delhi High Court has said that every vehicle, including that of top constitutional authorities, running on the national capital roads has to abide by the law and have a registration number that should be displayed. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said every vehicle in Delhi has to comport to the motor vehicle law, and directed the Centre and the AAP government to ensure all the official cars used by them are registered at the earliest.

"There can be no manner of doubt that every vehicle has to comport to the Motor Vehicle Act and has to be registered with a registering authority and must display the registration number," the bench said. The directions by the court came while disposing of an NGO's plea seeking to enforce the display of registration number on cars of constitutional authorities like President, the Vice President, Governors and Lieutenant Governors, and dignitaries.

NGO Nyayabhoomi, through its secretary Rakesh Agarwal, had claimed that the practice of displaying the state emblem of four lions, instead of the registration numbers, make the cars conspicuous and the dignitaries may become easy targets for terrorists or anyone with malicious intent.

The bench disposed of the matter by noting that the Centre and the Delhi government have taken "some action" to ensure registration of vehicles of constitutional authorities and hoped the entire process would be completed soon. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had earlier told the court that it has written to the authorities concerned to get such vehicles registered. Subsequently, the Vice President's secretariat had told the court that all the vehicles used by it were displaying their registration numbers.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said that some vehicles used by it to ferry dignitaries would soon be displaying registration numbers. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said that some vehicles used by it to ferry dignitaries would soon be displaying registration numbers.

The NGO, in its plea, had said that a person meeting with an accident involving such a car without a registration number cannot bring any claim against it as due to the absence of any identification mark, the vehicle's ownership cannot be known and the citizens get the message that if a dignitary could disobey the law and get away with it, so could they.