Deputy Commissioner, UT, Chandigarh and Registering & Licensing Authority under Transport Department UT, Chandigarh are allowing the applications for retention of old registration numbers on new vehicles and old vehicles purchased from other states. Any person holding any choice/fancy vehicle registration number can retain the registration number on his/her new or other vehicle. However, it was observed that the applicants are purchasing old vehicles having choice/fancy registration numbers from the owner of vehicles only to retain that choice/fancy registration number on their newly purchased vehicles or old vehicles purchased from other states. In order to curtail this practice of immediate retention of old registration on new vehicles and hence curb the chances of misuse of the provision for retention of choice/fancy registration numbers, UT administration has decided that the retention of vehicle registration number will be allowed, only if the vehicle registration number has remained registered in the name of the applicant for a minimum period of three years, as on the date of application for retention. Thus, retention of old registration numbers on the new vehicle or old vehicle purchased from other states shall only be permitted if the old registration number has been in the applicant’s name for atleast three years at the time of applying for retention of registration number. Secretary Transport Vinay Pratap Singh stated that this amendment in Chandigarh Motor Vehicles Rules was necessary to prevent the misuse of provisions regarding retention of choice/fancy vehicle registration numbers. He stated that fancy/choice vehicle registration numbers are allowed for retention by Deputy Commissioner on payment of half of reserve price of the fancy/choice registration numbers. As per record, DC Office and RLA had processed 1324 applications for retention of fancy/choice vehicle registration number in last 3 years and collected revenue of Rs.1.41 Cr. from retention of old fancy/choice vehicle registration numbers.