Chennai, June 23 (IANS) Vehicle owners in Tamil Nadu seeking fancy or preferred registration numbers may soon have to pay substantially higher fees, with the State government proposing a major revision of charges and introducing a new premium category costing up to ₹8 lakh for numbers in future registration series.

The proposal forms part of a draft amendment to the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, published in the Extraordinary Gazette on June 19.

The move marks the first major revision of registration number fees since 2012 and aims to overhaul the existing system governing advance and government-reserved registration numbers.

Under the current system, vehicle registration numbers are allotted randomly at the time of registration. Owners who wish to secure a specific number within 1,000 numbers of the running series can apply through the Regional Transport Office (RTO) by paying a prescribed fee.

The draft amendment proposes a significant increase in charges for securing registration numbers from future series. The fee for obtaining a preferred number in the current series and the next three upcoming series is set to double under the new rules.

According to the proposal, vehicle owners seeking numbers in the fifth to eighth future series would have to pay ₹1.2 lakh. The fee would rise to ₹2 lakh for numbers in the ninth and tenth future series and ₹4 lakh for those in the eleventh and twelfth future series.

In a new category introduced by the government, registration numbers in the thirteenth and fourteenth future series would attract a premium fee of ₹8 lakh, making them the most expensive category under the proposed framework.

The government has also proposed replacing the existing flat-rate system for fancy registration numbers allotted through RTOs with a value-based fee structure linked to the cost of the vehicle.

For two-wheelers and three-wheelers, charges would range from ₹2,000 for vehicles costing up to ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh for vehicles valued above ₹30 lakh.

The revised structure is intended to ensure that owners of higher-value vehicles pay proportionately higher fees for preferred registration numbers. Imported vehicles would also come under a slab-based fee system.

Charges are proposed to range from ₹20,000 for imported vehicles valued up to ₹4 lakh to ₹1.5 lakh for those costing more than ₹50 lakh, compared to the existing fee range of ₹1,000 to ₹16,000.

The draft rules stipulate that approval from the State government will continue to be mandatory for allotment of numbers from future series and government-reserved fancy numbers. The proposed changes are expected to generate additional revenue while regulating the growing demand for premium registration numbers in the State.

—IANS

aal/rad