Vehicle owners in Hyderabad and Telangana may soon have a tough time, after the state government on Thursday, issued an order directing vehicles with 'AP' on the number plate to replace it with 'TS' and the district code.
However, guidelines and fee structure for the change will be issued later.
According to a report in the Times of India, Government Order (GO) 44 stated that "In place of group of letters (i.e. AP) and code of registering authority under whose jurisdiction already the vehicle was registered or assigned, the vehicle bearing number, shall be substituted by the new group of letters (TS) and new code allotted to the district code registering authority, without disturbing the last four numerical digits and series."
Though there is no fixed time frame yet, and the guidelines and fee structures are still to be worked out, the GO added that at least four months would be given to make the change, following which the time window may also be extended.
The TOI report adds that vehicles plying in Telangana with state code 'AP' could be given a temporary Registration Certificate (RC), which would be posted on the transport department website.
However, this would imply that all vehicle owners would have to pay the registration fee again.
“Our endeavour currently is to ensure that change-over happens in a hassle-free manner,” Transport Commissioner Sandeep Kumar Sultania told The Hindu, after a meeting with senior officials to draft a strategy.