Vintage car owner moves High Court seeking order to retain original registration number

By Dhiraj Beniwal
New Delhi [India], October 24 : A vintage car owner has moved to the Delhi High Court to seek an order to permit him to retain the original registration number 'DHB 0059' for his car. A new number has been allotted to this vintage car.
It is further mentioned that the original registration number of a vintage vehicle preserves its history and legacy. The original registration number of a vintage vehicle is the very 'heart and soul' of that vehicle and as such rendering a new registration number to a vintage vehicle will rob the charm, cultural significance and historic value attached to that vehicle.
The petition is listed before the bench of Justice Prateek Jalan for hearing on Friday. The petitioner has moved a petition arraying the Central Government, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and other authorities. He has sought an order directing them to permit him to retain the original registration number 'DHB 0059' for his vintage car.
It is also prayed to set aside the new registration number allotted to the car.
The petition has been moved through Advocate Rhea Gandhi. It is stated in the petition that the petitioner owns a vintage Cadillac, registered as 'DHB 0059', manufactured by General Motors in 1965, which has been registered since September 20, 1972.
It is also stated that the petitioner is the sixth owner of this vintage car and the said car is duly registered in his name by the registering authority at Wazirpur, Delhi.
The plea said that in the year 2021, the government recognised the need to regulate laws and policies pertaining to the vintage vehicles, leading to the notification for new rules and regulations via Gazette Notification dated 15 July 2021, issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, which came to be known as the Central Motor Vehicles (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2021.
It is mentioned that these Rules, 2021, defined the 'vintage vehicle' and further laid down the procedure for registering a vintage vehicle in India.
Prior to this notification, no regulations existed for vintage vehicle registration across various states in India, the plea said. The new rules aimed to simplify the registration process and included provisions for the retention of old numbers for existing registrations, alongside a unique VA (unique registration mark) series for new registrations.
The plea said that as per the Amendment to Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, all two and four-wheeler vehicles that are more than 50 years old and have been maintained in their original form will be defined as 'vintage motor vehicles' and will have to get a special registration.
The petitioner's vintage vehicle qualified the 50-year threshold and has been maintained in its original form as earmarked in the above-mentioned Gazette Notification dated July 15, 2021, issued by the Ministry, it added.
The petitioner had applied for the registration of his car as a 'vintage car' on the VAHAN portal managed and operated by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), in accordance with the above-mentioned new rules.
The plea mentioned that Rule 81 B (3) and (4) of the Central Motor Vehicles (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2021 talk about the retention of old registration numbers of a vintage vehicle. The vintage car re-registration rules, effective from 01.04.2022, state that those vehicles with valid registration and papers need not be re-registered.
It further stated that only those vehicles that are without registration or requisite papers are to be assigned new series registration numbers.
The petitioner has stated that despite there being a clear provision for retention of the old registration number in the Central Motor Vehicles (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2021, there was no option available on the VAHAN portal for the same.
However, the petitioner assumed that he would retain his old registration number since he had all the valid papers as enunciated in the Central Motor Vehicles (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2021 and thereafter, the petitioner uploaded all the requisite documents pertaining to his vintage vehicle and deposited the requisite fees of Rs 20,000 in terms of Rule 81 C of the Central Motor Vehicles (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2021.
It is stated that despite there being a clear provision for the retention of the old registration number in the Central Motor Vehicles (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2021, the petitioner was wrongfully and arbitrarily assigned a new registration no. 'DL VA 1317' instead of the original registered number 'DHB 0059' by the respondents in defiance of the express provisions enunciated in the... Central Motor Vehicles (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2021.
It is argued that the said erroneous and arbitrary action of the Respondents not allowing the petitioner to retain the old registration number despite his vintage car being already registered and having all the requisite papers is in gross violation of Rule 81 B (3) and ( 4) of the Central Motor Vehicles (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2021.
However, upon meeting the officials at the RTO, he was informed that all the vintage vehicles are being treated as fresh registrations, irrespective of the fact that they have been registered earlier or not, and all the said vintage vehicles are being assigned new registration numbers, as internally there is a lot of confusion regarding the implementation of the new rules, and as such, there is no provision on the VAHAN portal for retention of the old registration number of a vintage vehicle.