Bid to favour firm hits tender, high security number plate plan delayed again

The government’s plan to replace old number plates with High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) for vehicles bought before April 2019 has been delayed again with the Transport Department spending five months resisting political pressure to favour a company in a recent tender.

In October 2021, the Regional Transport Office invited bids to empanel a company to issue HSRP in the fourth tender since 2005. About 1.7 crore old vehicles need to change their number plates, in a business worth Rs 600 crore.

However, vendors complained against a clause that barred companies with below Rs 100-crore turnover from participation. Even as the department started looking into the matter, officials started facing political pressure.

“There was pressure to let the clause prevail. This big company will corner the market and hike prices. This forced some companies to move the high court,” an official said, citing writ petitions in the high court over the last five months.

Meanwhile, officials were also told to remove another clause that barred companies facing cases of financial irregularities and criminal cases from participating. “The clause on criminal antecedents was introduced after the CBI booked a company in Meghalaya for fraud,” the official added.

The row over the political pressure came to the fore at a meeting held by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on January 25. “The chief minister was told about the danger of appointing one rich company which will sell HSRP at exorbitant rates and defraud crores of people. He was briefed about the high court cases which had led to the cancellation of three tenders over the past 14 years,” a senior official told DH.

An official confirmed that the chief minister directed officials to empanel more than seven companies to facilitate competitive pricing.

To a question, Transport Minister B Sriramulu said the department will take steps to introduce HSRP. “There is no question of political pressure. We want all companies to participate so that people can get the plates at lower rates,” he said.

The technical evaluation of bids scheduled on Thursday was cancelled with sources saying the department informed the high court the plan to empanel around seven firms.

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