Vehicle registration: Heavy fines await those who missed the deadline

Residents have complained of police harassment.

KARACHI: All those motorcyclists who missed Saturday’s deadline to register licence plates must brace themselves for high fines.

According to a notification issued by AIG Ghulam Shabbir Shaikh, policemen will take action against all motorcyclists who do not have registered licence plates and impose fines on all cars with fancy or ‘applied-for-registration’ registration plates, blue lights and tinted windows.

A police spokesperson said that a campaign would be launched against all violators once the deadline ends. The police will submit a progress report to the relevant department every day.

Meanwhile, the forces empowered to charge fines have found a lucrative source of income in licence plates that have not been authorised by the excise and taxation department. The motorcycle owners were, however, quite confused - not knowing what exactly made them a violator.

The shops selling licence plates received a large number of perplexed motorcyclists trying to get the background of the registration plates changed to white. The police were also stopped motorcyclists dutifully checking their licence plates and filling their pockets in the process. Motorcyclists complained that the snap-checking worsened at night when policemen would ask them, “Are you a target killer?” when they failed to show the correct number plates.



Muhammad Faizan, who works in a bank, often goes home late at night, especially towards the end of the month. On March 29, he was stopped by some policemen near Teen Hatti bridge and was told his licence plate background was not white. To his surprise, the first question the policeman asked him was, “Since your number plates are not the right kind, are you going to kill someone?” Taking a hint from the blatant accusation, Faizan offered the policeman Rs200 and was allowed to go.

Meanwhile, the excise and taxation department claimed that there is no policy for old vehicles to upgrade their number plates to the standardised ones from their department.  Excise and Taxation ETO Saleem Memon explained that there are million of vehicles on the road and the department cannot handle issuing updated registration plates for all of them. He told motorcyclists not to worry about getting standardised ones, but try to change the background to white so they are visible from a distance.

Meanwhile, owners of four-wheelers can run them for three months after purchase but after that they have to fix the standardised ones issued by the excise department, said Memon. The department allows three months to fix licence plates but the police are authorised to check these vehicles during this time, he said, adding that they cannot, however, charge fines until the three-month period is over. Once the stipulated time is over, the police are empowered to seize the vehicles along with the fines, he said.

The excise department sometimes helps the police flag down cars without proper registration plates.

For their part, the police claim they stop people without proper registration plates in order to curb crime. A police, who wished to remain anonymous, admitted that several men in the force do charge bribes during snap-checking. Instead of making new laws to control crime, the police force should be held accountable when they are proven guilty during their duty, he suggested.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2013.