Online auction of fancy registration numbers to start soon in the state

Shivani Bhakoo
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, December 6

The online auction of fancy numbers, which had been stopped in Punjab for the past about two months, will start soon after bringing improvement/changes in the software. The file is with the Minister of Transport and it is expected that it will be cleared in a day or two.

Talking to The Tribune, State Transport Commissioner Dilraj Singh said after making a few amendments, aimed at bringing more transparency, the file had been moved to the minister for his clearance. “We expect the file will be cleared soon and after that the auction will restart all over Punjab,” said the official.

The auction of fancy numbers was stopped in all districts of Punjab by the department. It was learnt that a few discrepancies were noticed. The department realised that the revenue generated through the auction was not up to the mark. To keep a tab on irregularities, the department stopped the online auction of the fancy numbers about two months ago.

“The state government generates huge revenue through the auction of fancy numbers. Earlier, the numbers were auctioned manually at some places. Suppose I have to get no. 0001. I will put my option online and the department will wait for a week for me to deposit the charges. Suppose I fail to deposit the charges (or deliberately not deposit the amount), the chance will be given to the next bidder.

“The government has fixed nominal fees for participation in the online auction, so people do not think twice to bid. But later, they back out and the chance is given to the next bidder. There were many lacunae in the procedure and the department was not getting enough revenue. To bring more transparency to the online auction procedure, the department has decided to make amendments to the software,” said an employee of the Regional Transport Authority here. 

Meanwhile, the Secretary, Regional Transport Authority, Lovjeet Kalsi, said earlier, the RTA office used to advertise the online auction in newspapers. But now, the government was trying to bring a new policy. Fresh instructions will be passed and after that we will again give an advertisement for starting the online auction of fancy numbers, he added.