Bombay HC Strikes Down Maharashtra Circular On BH Series Vehicle Registration

In 2021, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways India introduced the Bharat series number plate.(Representative image)

The Bombay High Court in a ruling on April 12, invalidated a circular that the Maharashtra government had published, which imposed additional requirements for obtaining BH series registration for automobiles.

It was decided that the circular was unlawful, arbitrary and unconstitutional. The disputed circular states that in addition to their official identity card, government employees must submit a certificate attesting to their presence in other states, which should include information about their offices, previous stays and payment slips from those periods, to be eligible for a BH series vehicle registration.

The court was hearing a plea brought by Mahendra Patil, a senior civil judge with the Maharashtra State Judicial Services, contesting the circular and refusal of his application to register his car under the BH series.

According to the report by Economic Times, Patil claimed that he applied for a BH Series vehicle registration and, in compliance with the regulations, turned in his official identity card.

He did not, however, comply with some additional restrictions required by a February 2024 transport commissioner directive, which is why his application was denied.

Furthermore, Patil said in his plea that the transport commissioner’s issuance of such a circular is unauthorised and in violation of Central government-framed norms. He requested the revocation of the transport commissioner’s circular and the issuance of an order allowing him to register his car under the BH series.

The Bombay High Court’s two-judge divisional bench found that the transport commissioner’s circular was “clearly more than the jurisdiction and without any authority in law” when rendering its decision.

What is a number plate from the BH series?

In 2021, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways India introduced the Bharat series number plate, also referred to as the BH number plate, to streamline the vehicle registration procedure.

This licence plate saves the time-consuming process of re-registering a car after transferring to a new state, which is beneficial for people who regularly move owing to employment obligations.

Additionally, it eliminates the problem of duplicate numbers, which simplifies and streamlines the registration procedure.

Working professionals with transferable employment may drive across the nation without having to re-register their cars when they use the BH number plate.